SPECIAL NEWS SECTION
This
page is a compilation of news stories accumulated through
Google Alerts of the British Petroleum so far unrestrained
gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. It focuses on the Gulf environment,
especially the Louisiana State Bird, the Brown Pelican
with updates on pelicans and other seabirds/marine life
affected by this disaster.
Barack Obama, 3/31/2010, on drilling in
the Gulf: YouTube - support
this ad!
Tracking the spilling
oil: http://nyti.ms/anMcRY and
bracing for impact, http://tinyurl.com/2audddf
; Where oil has make landfall: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/27/us/20100527-oil-landfall.html ;
also: http://firedoglake.com/bp-oil-disaster
Pictures:
Detroit Free Press gallery, May 1. 5/12: Video of the
gushing oil/gas: http://tinyurl.com/2cbt8lt ;
to follow via the New Orleans Times Picayune: http://www.nola.com/t-p/
and, specifically, the Gulf oil "spill": http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/
5/27 — ABC News video Under the Water,
with Phillippe Cousteau: http://tinyurl.com/3xa88m
To help: The IBRRC has been inundated
with questions about how people can help. While those responsible
for this spill are covering the cost of the Gulf clean-up,
you can support the ongoing work of the non-profit organizations
currently on the ground preparing to respond to oiled wildlife.
You can support International
Bird Rescue's ongoing rescue work by donating, becoming
a member or adopting a bird, all available online here.
Please also consider donating to Tri-State
Bird Rescue & Research with whom IBRRC is partnering
in this ongoing effort on the Gulf Coast. (Tri-State
this winter undertook the very expensive rescue operation
of frost-bitten pelicans noted below in the Pelican
News
section on Maryland pelicans; IBRRC also has had the
heavy costs of this past winter's California Brown Pelican
problems.)
2010: June 16 ->
2010: June 1 -> June
15
2010: April 20
->May 31
National Geographic, May 27, Gulf Oil
Spill
Need, Greed and Oodles
of Red Tape.... and Part 2
Clip from 5/1 BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/video_and_audio/default.stm
Oil leak an 'environmental crime'
Reuters — Last updated 15:12 31/05/2010 -- with heartbreaking
photos of oiled birds
US lawmakers and local residents clamored on Sunday for
BP and the Obama administration to do more to save the
Gulf Coast from an out-of-control oil spill that has become
the biggest environmental catastrophe in the country's
history.
Lawmakers from US President Barack Obama's own Democratic
Party called the nearly six-week oil gush in the Gulf of
Mexico an "environmental crime" and demanded
$1 billion from BP to protect the region's treasured marshlands.
The failure on Saturday of a "top kill" technique
attempted by London-based BP to try to seal its leaking
Gulf well has unleashed a surge of anger that poses a major
domestic challenge to Obama and his party in an election
year.
:::snip:::
Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu called on BP
to immediately invest $1 ($NZ1.47) billion to protect marshes,
wetlands and estuaries across the region. "While we
may not be able to plug the leaking well right away, there
is nothing that should stop us from getting help to the
Gulf Coast immediately," she said.
Gulf residents fear the oil slick could be whipped further
inshore by what forecasters predict will be the most active
Atlantic storm season since 2005, the year of Hurricane
Katrina.
That deadly storm proved a political disaster for President
George W. Bush, who was accused of complacency in handling
it, and Obama is fighting to prevent the Gulf spill from
becoming his own "Katrina" ahead of the November
congressional elections.
At the New Orleans protest, Jennifer Jones said Louisianians
still recovering from Katrina's devastation are frustrated
by the response thus far.
"We need the help again, continuing from Katrina,
this is like Part Two," Jones said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/3757026/Gulf-oil-leak-plug-fails
Δ
Scientists warn of an unseen disaster in the Gulf as oil
plumes stretch through the depths
MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer
May 31, 2010 | 1:08 p.m. — NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Independent
scientists and government officials say there's a disaster
we can't see in the Gulf of Mexico's mysterious depths,
the ruin of a world inhabited by enormous sperm whales
and tiny, invisible plankton.
Researchers have said they have found at least two massive
underwater plumes of what appears to be oil, each hundreds
of feet deep and stretching for miles. Yet the chief executive
of BP PLC — which has for weeks downplayed everything
from the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf to the environmental
impact — said there is "no evidence" that
huge amounts of oil are suspended undersea.
BP CEO Tony Hayward said the oil naturally gravitates
to the surface — and any oil below was just making
its way up. However, researchers say the disaster in waters
where light doesn't shine through could ripple across the
food chain.
"Every fish and invertebrate contacting the oil is
probably dying. I have no doubt about that," said
Prosanta Chakrabarty, a Louisiana State University fish
biologist. ...
But last week, a team from the University of South Florida
reported a plume was headed toward the continental shelf
off the Alabama coastline, waters thick with fish and other
marine life.
The researchers said oil in the plumes had dissolved into
the water, possibly a result of chemical dispersants used
to break up the spill. That makes it more dangerous to
fish larvae and creatures that are filter feeders.
Responding to Hayward's assertion, one researcher noted
that scientists from several different universities have
come to similar conclusions about the plumes after doing
separate testing.
No major fish kills have been reported, but federal officials
said the impacts could take years to unfold. ...
Recent discoveries of endangered sea turtles soaked in
oil and 22 dolphins found dead in the spill zone only hint
at the scope of a potential calamity that could last years
and unravel the Gulf's food web. ...
An estimated 910,000 gallons of dispersants — enough
to fill more than 100 tanker trucks — are contributing
a new toxin to the mix. Containing petroleum distillates
and propylene glycol, the dispersants' effects on marine
life are still unknown.
What is known is that by breaking down oil into smaller
droplets, dispersants reduce the oil's buoyancy, slowing
or stalling the crude's rise to the surface and making
it harder to track the spill.
Dispersing the oil lower into the water column protects
beaches, but also keeps it in cooler waters where oil does
not break down as fast. That could prolong the oil's potential
to poison fish, said Larry McKinney, director of the Harte
Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
"There's a school of thought that says we've made
it worse because of the dispersants," he said.
Associated Press writer Jason Dearen contributed to this
report from San Francisco.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-oil-spill-mysteries-of-the-deep,0,5053348.story
Δ
Late Night: BREAKING — British Petroleum to Sue
Pelicans for Theft of Company Assets
By: Thers Saturday May 29, 2010 8:01 pm
BATON ROUGE — British Petroleum, whose Deepwater
Horizon crude oil extraction facility has historically
done so much to liberate America from a debilitating reliance
upon petroleum products provided by swarthy, untrustworthy
foreigners, today announced its decision to sue Louisiana-based
brown pelicans in federal court for the theft of valuable
company assets. :::snip:::
http://firedoglake.com/2010/05/29/late-night-breaking-british-petroleum-to-sue-pelicans-for-theft-of-company-assets/
Oiled pelican cleaned at Theodore (Ala) rehab
Published : Saturday, 29 May 2010, 10:03 PM CDT
THEODORE, Ala. (WALA) - A bird bath was potentially life-saving
for a brown pelican found covered in oil.
"It looks pretty healthy, and it's fairly heavily
oiled," said Michelle Bellizzi.
The bird which was found near the Cochran Bridge Friday
was taken to the Theodore Oil Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
:::snip:::
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/gulf_oil_spill/oiled-pelican-cleaned-at-theodore-rehab
Δ
After 'top kill' fails, a dispiriting summer of oil, anger
is ahead for Louisiana
By The Associated Press
May 30, 2010, 4:47PM — There is still a hole in the Earth,
crude oil is still spewing from it and there is still,
excruciatingly, no end in sight. After trying and trying
again, one of the world's largest corporations, backed
and pushed by the world's most powerful government, can't
stop the runaway gusher.
As desperation grows and ecological misery spreads, the
operative word on the ground now is, incredibly, August
-- the earliest moment that a real resolution could be
at hand. And even then, there's no guarantee of success.
For the United States and the people of its beleaguered
Louisiana Gulf Coast, a dispiriting summer of oil and anger
lies dead ahead.
Oh ... and the Atlantic hurricane season begins Tuesday.
:::snip:::
There is still a hole in the Earth, crude oil is still
spewing from it and there is still, excruciatingly, no
end in sight. After trying and trying again, one of the
world's largest corporations, backed and pushed by the
world's most powerful government, can't stop the runaway
gusher.
As desperation grows and ecological misery spreads, the
operative word on the ground now is, incredibly, August
-- the earliest moment that a real resolution could be
at hand. And even then, there's no guarantee of success.
For the United States and the people of its beleaguered
Louisiana Gulf Coast, a dispiriting summer of oil and anger
lies dead ahead. :::snip:::
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/after_top_kill_fix_fails_a_dis.html
Δ
Latest Attempt by BP to Plug Oil Leak in Gulf of Mexico
Fails
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: May 29, 2010 — HOUSTON — BP engineers
failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday,
a technician working on the project said, representing
yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures
the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the
flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.
...
BP said Saturday it would not comment on the technician’s
assertions. Officials have said they will continue the
process into Sunday before they declare it a success or
failure. :::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30spill.html
Documents Show Earlier Worries About Safety of Rig
By IAN URBINA
Published: May 29, 2010 — WASHINGTON — Internal
documents from BP show that there were serious problems
and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far
earlier than those the company described to Congress last
week.
The problems involved the well casing and the blowout
preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the
chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.
The documents show that in March, after several weeks
of problems on the rig, BP was struggling with a loss of “well
control.” And as far back as 11 months ago, it was
concerned about the well casing and the blowout preventer.
:::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html?ref=global-home
Δ
BP's Dog and Pony Show for Obama on
his brief visit and the media with him; picked up by
CNN...
Dog And Pony Show: BP Bussed In Hundreds Of Workers To
Set Stage For Obama’s Photo Op
Rob Port • May 28, 2010 — I posted about
Obama’s gulf coast photo-op earlier
today, and while
the event was undoubtedly choreographed, I had no idea
the extent:
Perhaps you saw news footage of President Obama in Grand
Isle, La., on Friday and thought things didn’t look
all that bad. Well, there may have been a reason for that:
The town was evidently swarmed by an army of temp workers
to spruce it up for the president and the national news
crews following him.
Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, whose district
encompasses Grand Isle, told Yahoo! News that BP bused
in “hundreds” of temporary workers to clean
up local beaches. And as soon as the president was en route
back to Washington, the workers were clearing out of Grand
Isle too, Roberts said.
“The level of cleanup and cooperation we’ve
gotten from BP in the past is in no way consistent to the
effort shown on the island today,” Roberts said by
telephone. “As soon as the president left, they were
immediately put back on the buses and sent home.”
Roberts says the overnight contingent of workers was
there mainly to furnish a Potemkin-style backdrop for the
event — while also making it appear that BP was firmly
in command of spill cleanup efforts.
New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU reports that the workers
were paid $12 an hour and came mostly from neighboring
Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.
News of 11th-hour spruce-up brigade spread rapidly Friday
afternoon and infuriated locals. One popular radio host,
WWL’s Spud McConnell, suggested that the Coast Guard
and the White House may have been involved in setting up
the “perfect photo op.”
What a joke.
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/dog-and-pony-show-bp-bussed-in-hundreds-of-workers-to-set-stage-for-obamas-photo-op/
Δ
Important story on the possible
environmental effects - here are selections:
The Gulf's silent environmental crisis
By John D. Sutter, CNN
May 28, 2010 9:40 a.m. EDT — On the Gulf of Mexico
(CNN) -- Ten miles off the coast of Louisiana, where the
air tastes like gasoline and the ocean looks like brownie
batter, Louisiana State University professor Ed Overton
leans out of a fishing boat and dunks a small jar beneath
the surface of the oil-covered water.
"God, what a mess," he says under his breath,
scooping up a canister of the oil that's been spilled into
the Gulf of Mexico.
Even though Overton has been studying oil spills for 30
years, he's not sure what he'll find in that sample. That's
because, just below the surface, the scope and impact of
one of the biggest environmental disasters in the history
of the U.S. remains a mystery.
And that terrifies some scientists. ...
As one oceanographer put it, a Chernobyl-sized catastrophe
could be brewing under the sea. Or the environment here
may be dodging a huge bullet.
"It's kind of like falling out a window," Overton
said of the confusion. "We don't know how hard that
ground is gonna be until we hit bottom. We don't now if
we're going to land in soft shrubs and live -- or if we're
going to hit a rock." ...
There are several reasons for the widespread scientific
confusion.
Perhaps the best is that nothing like the Gulf oil spill
has ever happened before.
Many have compared it to the 1989 disaster in which the
Exxon Valdez tanker spilled oil off the coast of Alaska.
About 260,000 barrels -- a smaller amount than what's gone
into the Gulf -- were released into the environment in
that case, and it happened rather quickly. The Gulf spill
has dragged on over weeks and hasn't stopped.
A better comparison, some scientists say, is the IXTOC
I oil well disaster in Mexico in 1979. But, in that case,
little research was done to understand the spill's impact
on the Gulf of Mexico, Overton said. So there is no real-world
scientific precedent that could be used to understand what's
happening now.
BP, the company that was leasing the offshore oil rig
that exploded and sank April 20, is handling the environmental
cleanup. It's doing so in a way that adds further question
marks to the environmental situation. :::snip:::
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/28/gulf.oil.environment.disaster/?hpt=Sbin
Δ
Later on Friday:
BP’s Effort to Plug Oil Leak Suspended a Second Time
— By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: May 28, 2010 — HOUSTON — BP’s
renewed efforts at plugging the flow of oil from its runaway
well in the Gulf of Mexico stalled again on Friday, as
the company suspended pumping operations for the second
time in two days, according to a technician involved with
the response effort.
...
The suspension of the effort was not announced, and appeared
to again contradict statements by company and government
officials that suggested the top kill procedure was progressing
Friday.
The suspension of the effort was not announced, and appeared
to again contradict statements by company and government
officials that suggested the top kill procedure was progressing
Friday. :::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/us/29spill.html?ref=global-home
Oil Flow Is Stemmed, but Could Resume, Official Says
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and JOHN M. BRODER
Published: May 28, 2010
HOUSTON — By injecting solid objects as well as
heavy drilling fluid into the stricken well leaking oil
into the Gulf of Mexico overnight, engineers appeared to
have stemmed the flow of oil, Adm. Thad W. Allen of the
Coast Guard, the leader of the government effort, said
on Friday morning. But he stressed that the next 12 to
18 hours will be “very critical” in permanently
stanching what is already the worst oil spill in United
States history. :::snip:::
“They’ve been able to push the hydrocarbons
and the oil down with the mud,” he said, referring
to the heavy drilling fluid. “The real challenge
is to put enough mud into the well to keep the pressure
where they can put a cement plug over the top.” :::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/us/29spill.html?pagewanted=2&ref=global-home
Veterinarians poised to help in Gulf oil spill disaster
By: Stephanie Fellenstein
DVM NEWSMAGAZINE
May 27, 2010 — National Report -- When oil from the Gulf
Coast spill started moving toward the wetlands of the
Florida coast, Dr. Norm Griggs sounded the alarm on Facebook.
Four days later, he had 7,000 volunteers ready to help
affected wildlife.
“I have a serious army of volunteers,” he
said. “One way or another, we have got it covered.” :::snip:::
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Breaking+News/Rescue-ready/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/671742?contextCategoryId=378
Δ
(One word not mentioned
by Obama in his presence conference was “wildlife”;
another mentioned only in connection with Hawaii was “birds."
("I grew up in Hawaii where the ocean is sacred. And
when you see birds flying around with oil all over their
feathers...") And no mention at all of the Louisiana
State Bird, the Brown Pelican, recently off the endangered
species list, but now brown in a death-causing way. It
was a sadly missed opportunity by no-drama-Obama to be
more than cool....)
Defending Spill Response, Obama Expresses Frustration
By PETER BAKER
Published: May 27, 2010 — WASHINGTON — President
Obama declared on Thursday that he is “angry and
frustrated” over
the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and ordered a further
moratorium on new permits to drill new deepwater wells
as he tried to address deepening public frustration. :::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28obama.html?adxnnl=1&ref=global-home&adxnnlx=1274986873-nF2aVPRw6LeYIgUWVKtK2Q
Bad Company
Why did we trust free enterprise to clean up the oil spill?
by E.J. Dionne Jr.
May 27, 2010 | WASHINGTON—So who is in charge of
stopping the oil spill, BP or the federal government?
The fact that the answer to this question seems as murky
as the water around the exploded oil platform in the Gulf
of Mexico suggests that this is an excellent moment to
recognize that our arguments pitting capitalism against
socialism and the government against the private sector
muddle far more than they clarify.
:::snip:::
But the truth is that we have disempowered government and
handed vast responsibilities over to a private sector that
will never see protecting the public interest as its primary
task. The sludge in the Gulf is, finally, the product of
our own contradictions.
http://www.tnr.com/print/article/politics/75181/bad-company
Δ
‘Top Kill’ Effort Seems to Be Working, U.S.
Says Cautiously
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28spill.html?hp
A running commentary on the news - May 26, 2010, 10:36
PM
Is It Obama’s Oil Spill Now?
By THE EDITORS
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/is-it-obamas-oil-spill-now/?hp
BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Well Before Blast
By IAN URBINA
Published: May 26, 2010
WASHINGTON — Several days before the explosion on
the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP officials chose, partly
for financial reasons, to use a type of casing for the
well that the company knew was the riskier of two options,
according to a BP document. :::snip:::
The April 20 disagreement between the BP well site leader
and Transocean officials is also a growing focus of the
investigation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28spill.html?hp
Δ
Gulf Disaster Shows Drilling Is Too Dangerous
by Jamie Rappaport Clark
Posted: May 26, 2010 02:21 PM
...As a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, I'm feeling a profound sadness for the people
and wildlife that have died or been harmed by the toxic
sea of oily goo slowly creeping to the shore. Some 39 wildlife
refuges lie in reach of this massive oil slick. Some of
these refuges were just starting to recover from the near
devasting impacts of Hurricane Katrina and Tropical Storm
Arlene.
Breton National Wildlife Refuge off Louisiana's coast,
for example, lost 80 percent of its land base, including
three entire islands out of the refuge's original eight.
Yet refuge personnel have been tirelessly working to revegetate
the remaining islands.Their efforts have yielded good results:
brown pelicans and other birds have returned to nest successfully
in recent years. But today, oil is lapping at Breton and
Delta National Wildlife Refuges' shores. The booms BP officials
and the Coast Guard have placed act as mere speedbumps
as the slick rolls to the coastline. It doesn't bode well
for the nesting seabirds already sitting on eggs or nurturing
young. ;;;snip:::
Although Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman have unveiled
a bill that goes a long way toward reducing global warming,
it would actually provide incentives for states to approve
more oil drilling off of their coastlines. It's hard to
believe that while the Gulf of Mexico, with all its fisheries,
oyster reefs and beaches that attract millions of dollars
in tourism each year, gets covered in oil, anyone would
open the door to more coastal drilling.
If the catastrophe in the Gulf does not wake us up to
the need to wean ourselves off oil and move towards clean,
safe renewable energy, I don't know what will. This latest
spill is a wake up call to the White House, Congress and
frankly all Americans. President Obama and Congress must
not expand offshore drilling operations. Our leaders need
to lead. :::snip:::
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-rappaport-clark/gulf-disaster-shows-drill_b_588551.html
Δ
Oil spill update from the field: The pelican dilemma,
saving mom may mean killing
By Justin Nobel
05/26/2010 ...Onshore, oiled pelicans continuously preen themselves,
a futile attempt to remove the goop and smooth out their
feathers, which form a protective shield that keeps birds
dry and warm. Birds can become so obsessed with trying
to remove the oil that they forget about hunting and starve
to death. :::snip:::
And pelicans are the easy ones to spot. Birds like least
bitterns and clapper rails live deep in the cane grass
that cloaks the mouth of the Mississippi like a jungle.
Right now, the area is getting slammed with oil.
http://magblog.audubon.org/oil-spill-update-field-pelican-dilemma-saving-mom-may-mean-killing-chicks
Δ
NWF Scientist Visits Nesting Grounds Hit Hard By BP Oil
Spill (VIDEO)
Miles Grant, National Wildlife Federation communications
manager
Posted: May 26, 2010 01:54 PM
Dr. Doug Inkley, certified wildlife biologist & senior
scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, called
me at 6:30am local time. He was heading down to Venice
Marina for another long day on the water viewing the effects
of the BP oil disaster, but before motoring out beyond
cell service, Doug wanted to tell me about his day on the
water yesterday, touring Cat Island near Grand Isle.
"How did it compare to what you expected to see?" I
asked.
"Honestly, I expected to see booms protecting critical
island nesting habitats and people maintaining those booms," Doug
told me. "But instead, I saw booms drifting around & breaking
apart, oil ashore on the islands, and no responders or
boats anywhere to be seen." :::snip:::
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-grant/nwf-scientist-visits-nest_b_590611.html
Δ
Need, Greed and Oodles of Red Tape: Second Day in Grand
Isle, Louisiana
:::snip:::
As we rounded the corner and walked onto the south side
of the beach, we were met by a sheriff on a four wheeler
equipped with police lights.
The sheriff said that even though we had encountered no
signs indicating that the beach was closed, it was in fact
closed and that we should leave immediately. The officer
said that he had no problem with reporters being on the
beach as long as they had proper credentials and went on
to say that his job was simply to keep all of the lookie-loo
types off of the beach.
I can understand keeping people off of a beach that is
in the process of being cleaned, because surely civilians
would get in the way of workers. But where we were walking,
that was not the case. No one was cleaning the beach, no
one was laying out oil boom, no one was doing anything
but chasing people off of an otherwise dead or dying beach.
I believe that the citizens of this country not only have
the right to be able to see what is happening for themselves,
they need to see this for themselves. I guess the police
disagree however, because everywhere we drove today seemed
to end at a police manned road block. :::snip:::
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/51106
Δ
BP oil spill: how Gulf's sensitive and endangered species
are faring
Manatees, bluefin tuna, and Kemp’s ridley turtles
are especially challenged by the BP oil spill. The Kemp’s
ridley turtle is an endangered species that until recently
was threatened with extinction. Story by Bill Sasser, Correspondent
May 26, 2010 New Orleans — For the past
two days, New Orleanians who start their mornings with
The Times-Picayune have seen front-page photographs of
oiled brown pelicans, the state bird of Louisiana. The
brown pelican had been removed from the threatened-species
list just last year, but now, as the BP oil spill washes
onto beaches and wetlands, the species is up against a
new challenge.
While relatively few numbers of Gulf wildlife have been
counted as oil fatalities to date, wildlife experts say
the spill could produce mass casualties and steep declines
of populations in the coming weeks, months, and years.
Of particular concern: bluefin tuna, Kemp’s ridley
turtles, and Florida manatees.
“The situation in the Gulf is unprecedented for
wildlife, in terms of magnitude and numbers of species
involved,” says John Hewitt, senior vice president
and directory of husbandry for the Audubon Aquarium of
the Americas in New Orleans.
IN PICTURES: The Gulf oil spill's impact on nature
Up to 400 Florida manatees migrate to Louisiana waters
each summer, Mr. Hewitt says. This year, the aquatic mammals
may be exposed to oil as they swim and forage in the state’s
coastal lakes, rivers, and marshes.
“If oil gets into the waterways, we could see a
significant impact on the manatees,” Hewitt says. “They’re
herbivores, like cows, and have finely tuned digestive
tracts. No one knows how this oil could affect the manatees:
Nothing has ever occurred on this scale before.”
A record number of manatees – 417– died in
Gulf waters last year. Habitat destruction, strikes by
boats, cold temperatures, and red tide are cited for most
premature deaths of manatees. It is listed by the International
Union for Conservation of Nature as vulnerable to extinction.
:::snip:::
Among deepwater species, the western Atlantic bluefin
is the most threatened by the Gulf oil spill, according
to marine biologists. Weighing close to a ton and reaching
13 feet in length, it is among the fastest of fish and
at the top of the ocean’s food chain.
The area of the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster is one
of a handful in the Gulf where western Atlantic bluefins
breed, accounting for one-quarter of the species’ spawn
each spring, says marine biologist Barbara Block of Stanford
University in California. The oil spill, she says, will
have serious effects on bluefin eggs and larvae, which
free float in Gulf waters.
“The spill is so tragic for the bluefin because
it happened right at the time of year when the fish come
in to breed,” Ms. Block says. “Big fish can
sense the oil and swim away. The smaller fish, the eggs
and larvae, can’t get away.”
Overfished, the bluefin has undergone an 80 percent decline
since the 1970s. :::snip:::
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0526/BP-oil-spill-how-Gulf-s-sensitive-and-endangered-species-are-faring
Δ
Dead-bird count now over 300 and rising
News Services May 25, 2010
More than 300 sea birds, mostly brown pelicans and northern
gannets, have been found dead along the U.S. Gulf Coast
during the first five weeks of BP's huge oil spill off
Louisiana, wildlife officials reported Monday.
The 316 birds found dead along the coasts of Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- plus 10 others that
died or were euthanized after they were captured alive
-- far outnumber the 31 survivors to date. :::snip:::
"It's clear that the defence of the shoreline, at
this point, has not been successful," Hayward said. "I
feel devastated by that, absolutely gutted. What I can
tell you is that we are here for the long haul. We are
going to clean every drop of oil off the shore."
This was a different Hayward from the one who initially
suggested in a British TV interview that the environmental
impact would likely be "very, very modest."
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Dead+bird+count+over+rising/3067524/story.html#ixzz0ozYlYcoo
A Last-Gasp Airlift for Oily Birds
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
May 24, 2010, 5:19 pm — In an unusual and no doubt bewildering
migration, a handful of birds oiled by the BP oil leak
in the Gulf of Mexico have been transported by military
aircraft from coastal Louisiana to Florida and released
at coastal wildlife refuges there.
On Sunday, seven birds – three brown pelicans, two
northern gannets and two laughing gulls – arrived
at the Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, a coastal island
in the Florida Keys. (sic) The journey included a flight
onboard a Coast Guard HC-144A fixed-wing aircraft to Tampa,
a van ride and a boat trip out to Egmont Key. Additional
birds have been transferred to other wildlife refuges in
Florida.
The long journey was necessary to keep the birds from
returning to the site of the spill, said Boyd Blihovde,
deputy manager of the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife
Refuge, a nearby refuge, who helped coordinate the release.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/a-last-gasp-airlift-for-8-oily-birds/
Δ
BP Ignored Warnings Before Oil Rig Explosion
In the hours before the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded
in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th, BP received and ignored
warning signs that something was seriously wrong. In a
memo [pdf] released
last night, the House committee investigating
the disaster confirmed that BP made a "fundamental
mistake" in continuing operations after the problems
were detected. The memo doesn't say who specifically made
the call to keep drilling after the problem was found,
but we can just about picture the guy. BP's investigation
has "also raised concerns about the maintenance history,
modification, inspection, and testing of the [rig]."
The Times has published a provocative article looking
at the links between BP and President Obama’s energy
secretary Steven Chu. Three years ago Chu received the
bulk of a $500 million grant from BP to develop alternative
energy sources, and Chu selected BP’s chief scientist
Steven E. Koonin to be his under-secretary. :::snip:::
By
John Del Signore in News on May 26, 2010 1:07 PM 27
http://gothamist.com/2010/05/26/bp_ignored_warnings_before_oil_rig.php
Δ
BP Prepares for ‘Top Kill’ Procedure to Contain
Spill
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
May 25, 2010 — With frustration growing in the Gulf region
... BP said equipment was in place for what is known as
a “top kill” procedure, in which heavy drilling
fluids twice the density of water are pumped through two
narrow lines into the blowout preventer to essentially
plug the runaway well. Depending on pressure readings taken
Tuesday, officials said they might start the procedure
as early as Wednesday morning — but they left open
the possibility of more delays. :::snip:::
(BP’s dispersant useage has met criticism) Rep.
Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, praised the
E.P.A.’s action, saying, ... “Despite the assertions
made by BP that dispersants can be safely used, we know
almost nothing about the potential harm from the long-term
use of any of these chemicals on the marine environment
in the Gulf of Mexico, and even less about their potential
to enter the food chain and ultimately harm humans.” :::snip:::
The Corexit dispersants were removed from a list of approved
dispersants in Britain a decade ago because one type of
test used in that country found them to be dangerous to
animals like limpets near rocky shores.
Corexit dispersants are still approved for use in the
United States and Canada, which rely on different types
of testing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/us/26spill.html?ref=global-home
BP told to cut back on toxic remedy
A skeptical EPA calls for a sharp reduction in the company's
use of an oil dispersant.
...Even if the top kill succeeds and not another drop
of BP crude escapes into the gulf, the scope of the disaster
is already enormous.
"We still have a huge problem. It's a problem that
is so wide in its dimension that we can't really say what
the effects are likely to be," said Chris D'Elia,
dean of the School of the Coast and Environment at Louisiana
State University. "There has never been a spill of
this magnitude, at this depth before. It's a three dimensional
problem, and it's remarkable in scope."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-new-20100525,0,6488158.story
Δ
The BP blowout has become an issue in the Santa Barbara
State Assembly race, Santa Barbara continuing to remember
well the Union Oil blowout of 1969.
Jordan has consistently opposed offshore drilling; Williams
got into the race because of his support for expanded PXP
drilling and the promise to
have an early end to drilling.
Democrats Call For Clean Campaigns — Story Updated: May
24, 2010 at 5:00 PM PDT
...The battle is taking place in the 35th
Assembly District primary race between democrats, Das
Williams and Susan
Jordan.
The latest issue involves a flyer sent out by Jordan's
campaign, claiming Williams supports offshore oil drilling.
And it uses the British Petroleum accident in the Gulf
as one of their images.
Williams strongly opposes offshore oil projects, but recently
favored the PXP project off Lompoc. A project that would
which allow more drilling now, and then the removal of
platforms at a later date.
The democratic party of Santa Barbara County
says it opposes the flyer using the BP disaster in it,
and similar campaigning. However, Susan Jordan supporters
say it is not dishonest. ...
http://www.keyt.com/news/local/94784444.html
See also for more on the Santa Barbara race: http://www.thedailysound.com/052510negcampaign
Louisiana birds reflect oil spill's breadth
By Greg Bluestein and Matthew Brown, Associated Press
May 24, 2010 — BARATARIA BAY, La. - As officials approached
a coastal marsh Sunday to survey damage caused by the oil
spill, some brown pelicans couldn't fly away. All they
could do was hobble.
Several pelicans were coated in oil on Barataria Bay off
Louisiana, their usually brown and white feathers now jet
black. Pelican eggs were glazed with rust-colored gunk.
New hatchlings and nests were also coated with crude.
It is unclear if the area can even be cleaned, or if the
birds can be saved. It is also unknown how much of the
Gulf Coast will end up looking the same way because of
a well that has spewed untold millions of gallons of oil
since an offshore rig exploded more than a month ago. :::snip:::
The pelicans struggled to clean the crude from their bodies,
splashing in the water and preening themselves. One stood
at the edge of the island with its wings lifted slightly,
its head drooping - so encrusted it could not fly.
Wildlife officials tried to rescue oil-soaked
pelicans Sunday, but suspended their efforts after spooking
the birds. They were not sure whether they would try
again. U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Stacy Shelton
said it was sometimes better to leave the animals alone. (Hard
to understand why doing nothing is better than doing
something! Shame!!! - pelicanlife comment.)
Pelicans are especially vulnerable to oil. Not only could
they eat tainted fish and feed it to their young, but they
could die of hypothermia or drowning if they are soaked.
The spill's effect now stretches across 150 miles, from
Dauphin Island, Ala., to Grand Isle, La.
Each day the spill grows, so does anger with the government
and BP. Federal Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa
P. Jackson was headed Sunday to Louisiana, where she planned
to visit with frustrated residents.
Salazar and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
were to lead a Senate delegation to the region Monday to
fly over affected areas and keep an eye on the response.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100524_La__birds_reflect_oil_spill_s_breadth.html#axzz0osuqUylz
Δ
Oil Threatens Pelicans
Island http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/05/oil_threatens_pelicans_5.html Added
by The Times-Picayune on May 22, 2010 at 6:55 PM
An island that is home to hundreds of brown pelican nests
as well at terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills is impacted
by oil from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Barataria
Bay, just inside the the coast of Louisiana, Saturday,
May 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Eggs: http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/05/oil_threatens_pelicans.html Added
by The Times-Picayune on May 22, 2010 at 6:55 PM
Pelican eggs that appear to be stained with oil sit in
a nest on an island in Barataria Bay in Plaquemines Parish,
just inside the the coast of Louisiana, Saturday, May 22,
2010. The island which is being impacted from oil from
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, is home to hundreds of
brown pelican nests as well at terns, gulls and roseated
spoonbills. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Oil-stained pelican http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/05/oil_threatens_pelicans_1.html Added
by The Times-Picayune on May 22, 2010 at 6:55 PM
An island that is home to hundreds of brown pelican nests
as well at terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills is impacted
by oil, seen on the grass at the water line, from the Deepwater
Horizon Oil Spill just inside the the coast of Louisiana,
Saturday, May 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/05/oil_threatens_pelicans_2.html Added
by The Times-Picayune on May 22, 2010 at 6:55 PM
An oil stained pelican leaves its nest as oil washes ashore
on an island that is home to hundreds of brown pelican
nests as well at terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills in
Barataria Bay just inside the the coast of Louisiana, Saturday,
May 22, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
is now ipacting large ares of the Louisiana coast. (AP
Photo/Gerald Herbert)
http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/05/oil_threatens_pelicans_3.html Added by The Times-Picayune on May 22, 2010 at 6:55 PM
An oil stained pelican is seen at its nest as oil washes
ashore on an island that is home to hundreds of brown pelican
nests as well at terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills in
Barataria Bay just inside the the coast of Louisiana, Saturday,
May 22, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
is now impacting large areas of the Louisiana coast. (AP
Photo/Gerald Herbert)
http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/05/oil_threatens_pelicans_4.html Added by The Times-Picayune on May 22, 2010 at 6:55 PM
Nesting pelicans are seen landing as oil washes ashore
on an island that is home to hundreds of brown pelican
nests as well at terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills in
Barataria Bay, just inside the the coast of Louisiana,
Saturday, May 22, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill is now impacting large stretches of the Louisiana
Coast.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Δ
Gulf oil spill: Grand Isle, cleaning up, fishing closures,
brown pelicans in peril (with pictures, video)
May 23, 2010 – Yesterday, crews continued to clean
up the oil washing onto to the beaches of Grand Isle, LA.
New photographs and video show the oil spill's impact on
brown pelicans nesting around Grand Isle. On Friday, beaches
were closed to the public for an indefinite period of time
and some area waters were closed to fishing. Those closures
were extended on Saturday with this announcement:
"Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF)
Secretary Robert Barham announced the... additional closure(s)
to recreational and commercial fishing activities in a
portion of state inside waters east of Grand Isle effective
immediately, today, May 22, 2010.
...
With no end to the oil spill in sight, the beach clean-up
will be an ongoing labor-intensive process to stay ahead
of the oil that coming ashore each day. The beaches will
remain closed as long as necessary to protect public health.
As to the brown pelican population, how many will sicken
or die and how this season's offspring will be affected
remains to be seen.
http://www.examiner.com/x-47892-Environmental-News-Examiner~y2010m5d23-Gulf-oil-spill-Grand-Isle-cleaning-up-fishing-closures-brown-pelicans-in-peril-pictures-video
Δ
James Carville Takes On Obama On Oil Spill: He's 'Risking
Everything' With 'Go Along With BP Strategy'
First Posted: 05-21-10 06:55 PM | Updated: 05-22-10 04:35
PM
Democratic strategist James Carville and MSNBC anchor
Chris Matthews, two reliable supporters of President Barack
Obama, have issued withering critiques of the administration's
handling of the Gulf oil spill.
Carville, the famously outspoken Louisianian who was a
chief political aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton, told
CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday that the administration's
response to the spill has been "lackadaisical" and
that Obama was "naive" to trust BP to manage
the massive clean-up effort.
"I think they actually believe that BP has some kind
of a good motivation here," he said. "They're
naive! BP is trying to save money, save everything they
can... They won't tell us anything, and oddly enough, the
government seems to be going along with it! Somebody has
got to, like shake them and say, 'These people don't wish
you well! They're going to take you down!'"
Carville also accused the White House of
going along with what he called the "let BP handle
it" strategy. ...
Likewise, Chris Matthews argued during a "Tonight
Show" appearance that the President was "acting
a little like a Vatican Observer."
"The President scares me," he
said. "When
is he actually going to do something? ..." :::snip:::
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/21/obama-faces-new-wave-of-c_n_585620.html
Δ
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser declares
the oil-polluted marshes a dead zone
May 22, 4:52 AM New Orleans Progressive Examiner, Gregory
Boyce
Ever since the BP oil rig the Deepwater Horizon exploded
and sank over a month ago, gushing at best guess a minimum
of 700,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico,
local residents of the coast have harbored the fear that
Louisiana's once pristine coastal eco-system, - home of
some of Louisiana's most sacred wildlife - will eventually
turn into an oil-polluted graveyard. To the dismay of everyone,
that fear has now turned into reality.
Billy Nungesser, president of Louisiana's Plaquemines
Parish, toured the oil-polluted marshes of Plaquemines
Parish on Wednesday and said:
"Had you fallen off that boat yesterday and come
up breathing that stuff, you probably wouldn't be here
today."
The consequences of an oil-polluted graveyard
Oil started washing ashore in Louisiana this week, approximately
50 miles northwest from where the Deepwater Horizon oil
rig exploded and sank.
In a part of Plaquemines Parish in an estuary called Pass
a Loutre, reeds in the marshlands that were normally green
with life, are now brown and dead, saturated with oil.
:::snip:::
http://www.examiner.com/x-21743-New-Orleans-Progressive-Examiner~y2010m5d22-Plaquemines-Parish-President-Billy-Nungesser-declares-the-oilpolluted-marshes-a-dead-zone
Δ
Oil spill: How much is a pelican worth?
By Steve Hargreaves, senior writerMay 21, 2010: 3:06 PM
ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Just how much is a dead pelican
worth? BP is about to find out.
As the owner of the still-leaking oil well in the Gulf
of Mexico, the oil giant will pay billions of dollars in
damages, much of which will compensate for the birds, fish,
mammals and plants that are killed by the accident.
Exxon paid nearly a billion dollars in damages into a
wildlife conservation fund following the 1989 Valdez disaster,
roughly a quarter of the company's entire tab for the spill.
"What BP might pay could be much higher," said
Linwood Pendleton, director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy
program at Duke University's Nicholas Institute.
Hundreds of biologists, rangers, and other wildlife experts
have been dispatched to take inventory along the Gulf Coast.
The official tally is tiny compared to the Valdez, but
that's not the whole story. :::snip::: http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/21/news/economy/bp_wildlife/index.htm
Δ
Can Wildlife Survive the Oil Spill?
Friday, May 21, 2010
Audio - Jay Holcomb, director of IBRRC, and Michael Fry,
oil toxicologist at the American Conservancy
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2010/may/21/gulf-oil-spills-affect-wildlife/
The Latest on the Oil Spill
Published: May 20, 2010
THE NUMBER BP said the well was leaking
more than the 210,000 gallons a day that it and the government
had been estimating.
MORE DATA In a letter to BP’s chief
executive officer, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
and Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency
said BP had “fallen short” in providing information
on the spill and asked the company to release all monitoring
plans, records, video and any reports from internal investigations.
NOT QUITE LIVE A live video feed of the
leak was posted on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s
Web site. The site crashed shortly
afterward because of a spike in traffic.
STAYING PUT Adm. Thad W. Allen will continue
to manage the government’s response to the oil spill
after stepping down as commandant of the Coast Guard later
this month.
WILDLIFE A young brown pelican was found
dead with its neck and one wing matted in oil at the Breton
National Wildlife Refuge. About 4,500 pelicans and tens
of thousands of terns nest on the dozens of islands that
make up the sanctuary.
MORE HEARINGS The Coast Guard and the Minerals
Management Service will hold another round of hearings
on the drilling rig accident next Wednesday to Saturday
in Kenner, La.
An interactive map tracking the spill and
additional updates are available at nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21latest.html
Δ
Need, Greed and Oodles of Red Tape:
A Trip down Louisiana Hwy 23, Part 1
On the way we stopped at Historic Fort Jackson were,
during the civil war, the battle of Forts Jackson and St.
Philip occurred in 1862. Fort Jackson is where they have
set up an animal response-and-recovery center. We thought
we would get to take a few photos and ask a few questions.
Instead, we were abruptly escorted away by a security guard
in a BP cap.
security guard
The center itself seemed dead and no animals seemed to
be being cleaned or treated, though there are undoubtedly
hundreds, if not thousands, of birds, turtles, and the
like that have already been affected – not to mention
the undersea life that is harder to monitor. (We saw photos
this morning of bait fish washing ashore in huge numbers.)
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/49365
Louisiana's brown pelican imperiled by oil spill
By JOHN FLESHER, The Associated Press May 19, 2010
CALIFORNIA BAY, Louisiana — Hounded by hunters and
fishermen, driven to near-extinction by chemical pollution,
the brown pelican has survived a century of human abuse
-- only to face another challenge from the giant oil spill
threatening to devastate the Gulf of Mexico marine environment.
:::snip:::
The plight of Louisiana's state bird is emblematic of dangers
the disaster poses for the region's wildlife.
"I would not say there's going to be any species
wiped out because of it, but it's a very serious situation," said
Bob Love, coastal resources administrator for the Louisiana
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
The brown pelican is particularly at risk because it dives
beneath the water's surface to forage. Not only could pelicans
eat tainted fish and feed it to their young, but their
feathers could become oil-soaked, causing hypothermia or
drowning. :::snip:::
If oil coats the waters around islands and marshes, it
could cause prey fish numbers to plummet, said Aaron Pierce,
a shore bird specialist at Nicholls State University in
Thibodaux, Louisiana.
"Even if the pelicans can avoid the sheen, they must
be able to forage within a reasonable distance to keep
their chicks alive," said biologist Paul Leberg of
the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. "We've been
very lucky the oil has stayed so far offshore." :::snip:::
Restoring their endangered status, Scott Walter, a Louisiana-Lafayette
wildlife biologist studying brown pelicans on Gulf barrier
islands, said, might become necessary if food contamination
and habitat loss cause a population crash.
"They're in a very precarious position," he
said.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FPRLRG0.htm
Δ
May 18, 2010 | Oil in Gulf of Mexico Spells Disaster
for Young Birds as Breeding Season Unfolds [Slide
Show of birds of the South Coast]
Jan Dubuisson heads up the least-tern sanctuary for an
Audubon Society chapter in Gulfport, Miss. She's been working
with the migratory birds for the past 30 years—her
chapter formed to help imperiled springtime breeding colonies
there in 1976.
The smallish birds have an unsavory habit: they dive-bomb
intruders and defecate on them as a defense. So Dubuisson
is used to coming home filthy from the field.
But when she returned home from her monitoring efforts
about a week after the oil spill began, she saw stains
on her clothes she'd never seen before. They were dark,
she says, and "when I washed my hat and shirts, the
spots did not come out, which makes me wonder if they're
not oil-based."
So far, Dubuisson's suspicions have not been confirmed.
:::snip:::
Here wildlife rehabilitator
Erica Miler—member of the Louisiana State Animal
Response Team—cleanses a pelican of oil at Ft. Jackson
in Louisiana on May 15. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication
Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg
Nowhere to go
Familiar, non-migrating locals like brown pelicans are
also a special worry, Hunter added, because their numbers
in the Gulf have only recently been stabilizing after
habitat loss to erosion on the east side of the Mississippi
Delta, combined with hard hits in 2005 by hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. Part of the birds' recovery strategy
has been to expand their nesting sites to both sides
of the Mississippi Delta—but now both sides are
in the path of the spill. :::snip:::
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=oil-spill-impact-on-birds
Δ
BP Gains Some Control Over Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
ROBERT, Louisiana, May 16, 2010 (ENS) - Overnight, BP
technicians successfully inserted a tube in piping about
600 feet from the leaking wellhead on the Gulf of Mexico
seafloor to divert some of the oil and gas to a drill ship
5,000 feet above on the water's surface. :::snip:::
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says eight live birds
have been admitted to the wildlife rehabilitation centers:
two northern gannets, one green heron, three brown pelicans,
one magnificent frigate bird, and one laughing gull. Of
these, five birds have been cleaned and some have been
released back to the wild.
Sixteen birds were dead on arrival: four
northern gannets, one rock dove, one sora, five laughing
gulls, one cattle egret, two brown pelicans, one American
white pelican, and one frigate bird.:::snip:::
To report oiled or distressed wildlife
call: 1-866-557-1401.
:::snip:::There are 17 equipment staging areas in place and ready
to protect sensitive shorelines. In Alabama they are at:
Dauphin Island, Orange Beach, and Theodore; in Florida
at: Panama City, Pensacola, Port St. Joe, and St. Marks;
in Louisiana at: Amelia, Cocodrie, Grand Isle, Shell Beach,
Slidell, St. Mary, and Venice; and in Mississippi at: Biloxi,
Pascagoula, and Pass Christian.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2010/2010-05-16-01.html
MAY 14, 2010 Slick's Slow Advance Gives Defense Crucial
Time
By JIM CARLTON And JEFFREY BALL
VENICE, La.—Officials bracing for an oily onslaught
said the Gulf of Mexico oil slick's long delay in reaching
shore has given them valuable time to reinforce defenses
to protect sensitive marshes and estuaries. :::snip:::
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703950804575242610917903940.html?mod=WSJ_business_LeadStoryCollection
Δ
Wildlife death toll from BP oil spill likely includes
dolphins
Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, May 13, 2010
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking its toll
on the region's wildlife: brown pelicans, sea turtles,
several species of fish, and now dolphins have been found
dead.
The National Marine Fisheries Service reported today finding
six dead dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
since May 2nd. :::snip::: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0513-hance_dolphin_oil.html
May 13, 2010
Drill-rig owner seeks to limit liability; Gulf spill reportedly
70,000 barrels a day
The owner of the drilling rig that burned and sank in
the Gulf of Mexico wants a federal court in Houston to
limit its liability for the massive oil spill to just $26.8
million, a small portion of the projected damage claims.
Transocean, which owns the Deepwater Horizon rig, said
its insurer "demanded that the company file the petition
in order to keep intact the insurance coverage on the rest
of its fleet of 139 offshore drilling rigs," The Washington
Post writes. As plaintiffs' lawyers see it, Transocean,
the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, is "trying
to consolidate the more than 100 lawsuits in a Houston
court because Houston juries would be the most sympathetic
to the oil industry." One lawyer said they would try
to consolidate the lawsuits in New Orleans or Washington — presumably
because juries would be more sympathetic to the plaintiffs.
:::snip:::
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/05/drill-rig-owner-seeks-to-limit-gulf-spill-liability/1?csp=obnetwork
Δ
Protecting Wildlife: Brown Pelicans From Gulf May be Headed
to NC
(video)
http://www2.wnct.com/nct/news/state_regional/article/brown_pelicans_may_be_headed_to_north_carolina/141256/
Bird rescuers helping in Gulf
By Sandy Mazza Staff Writer
Posted: 05/10/2010 06:55:42 PM PDT
When a female adult pelican arrived coated in gummy black
oil at a newly opened Louisiana bird rescue center, a veterinarian
from San Pedro was there to care for her.
Hundreds of rescue workers from throughout the country
have descended on the southern Gulf of Mexico area since
last month's disastrous oil spill, which is expected to
take a heavy toll on the region's wildlife.
The International Bird Rescue and Research Center's San
Pedro facility sent three skilled workers to help birds
harmed by the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. :::snip:::
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15057479
Dr. Heather Nevill, Right,
a veterinarian with the San Pedro, International Bird Rescue
and Research Center works with memebsr of the Tri-State
Bird Rescue & Research Center cleaning oil off a Brown
Pelican in Louisiana. Credit IBRRC
photo gallery http://dailybreeze.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=10018
Δ
In Limbo In Louisiana: Birds on Pelican Island Engaged
in a Waiting Game
By Greg Butcher
05/10/2010
The call came Wednesday night, May 5. Would I be willing
to fly to Louisiana to assess the oil spill and advise
on what Audubon could do to help? Within two hours, I was
at the airport.
Today is my fifth day on-site. Anticipating the worst,
Audubon mobilized volunteers to help transport oiled birds,
but surprisingly few need it so far.:::snip::: photo: Brown
pelican on nest, by David J. Ringer.
http://magblog.audubon.org/limbo-louisiana-birds-pelican-island-engaged-waiting-game
BP looks for new plan to stop leak
The oil company may try a smaller containment box or try
to clog the well.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-na-oil-spill-20100510,0,251714.story
Media helicopters force Gulf birds to abandon nests
By Justin Nobel
05/08/2010
Birds in the Gulf of Mexico have a new enemy: some members
of the press. Media aircraft have been conducting illegal
flights and disturbing birds over Breton National Wildlife
Refuge, an Important Bird Area off the east coast of Louisiana
where oil from the leaking BP wellhead has been washing
ashore.
“We’ve done all this work to try and protect
those islands with booms,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service spokesperson Chuck Underwood. “But in the
end, folks flying in low and landing just to get their
photographs has been disturbing the birds. In some cases,
there has even been nest abandonment.”
Tens of thousands of birds are presently nesting and foraging
on the sandy strips and marshy spits in Breton National
Wildlife Refuge, making this an especially devastating
time for an oil spill. :::snip:::
“We know it’s a great story,” added Underwood,
specifically addressing journalists, “but back off
a little bit here.”
http://magblog.audubon.org/media-helicopters-force-gulf-birds-abandon-nests
Δ
May 08, 2010
How will Gulf oil spill affect brown pelicans?
Since the birds dive into the water to catch prey, the
oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill could poison
their food supply, CBS News reports.
"Right now they don't want to leave
their nest," Dr. Erica Miller told CBS. "That
means they're going to stay, unfortunately, where the oil
is."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/05/how-will-oil-affect-endangered-pelicans/1
Containment dome lowered into position
over oil leak
As the gulf slick grows, crews will spend
the weekend preparing the device to capture oil and pipe
it up to a ship. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100508,0,972775.story
Groundhog Day for Oil
By TIMOTHY EGAN, May 5, 2010, 9:00 pm
Wish it weren’t so, but I fear my lasting memory
of many trips to Prince William Sound will be of hunched-over
workers with toothbrushes, trying to scrub black tar from
shivering birds and sea-worn rocks in the Alaska spring
of 1989. :::snip:::
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/groundhog-day-for-oil/?src=mv
National Geographic Daily News
Gulf Oil Spill Pictures: Ten Animals at Risk
http://tinyurl.com/2vuw98x
Dispatch From Louisiana: The Brown Pelican and Media
Etiquette -- by: Tom Bearden
Brown pelican being cleaned in Louisiana; Photo by Lorna
Baldwin
The Fort Jackson bird rescue facility near Venice, La.,
got its second patient on Monday -- an oil-soaked Louisiana
brown pelican. The gawky bird was picked up on Storm Island,
but the folks who are standing by to clean birds weren't
really sure where that is.
When they exhibited the first bird to be rescued last
week, more than a dozen TV crews and a big crowd of reporters
showed up. There were about half as many media representatives
on Monday. There seemed to be a higher percentage of foreign
press covering the spill, :::snip:::
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/dispatch-from-louisiana-the-brown-pelican-and-media-etiquette.html
and also: http://www.wwl.com/Another-oiled-bird-found-and-birds-dropping-from-t/6973557
La. Refuge Established by Teddy Roosevelt in Harm's Way
By ROBIN BRAVENDER of Greenwire
Published: May 4, 2010
BRETON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, La. -- Nesting season
is in full swing for brown pelicans on Breton Island, the
southern end of a chain of barrier marshes stretched along
Louisiana's Gulf Coast. :::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/04/04greenwire-la-refuge-established-by-teddy-roosevelt-in-ha-23673.html
Δ
Amount of Spill Could Escalate, Company Admits
By JOHN M. BRODER, CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: May 4, 2010 — WASHINGTON — In a
closed-door briefing for members of Congress, a senior
BP executive conceded Tuesday that the ruptured oil well
in the Gulf of Mexico could conceivably spill as much as
60,000 barrels a day of oil, more than 10 times the estimate
of the current flow.
The scope of the problem has grown drastically since the
Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank into the gulf.
:::snip:::
At the briefing, ... “What we heard today from BP,
Halliburton and Transocean were a lot of worst-case scenarios
without any best-case solutions,” said Representative
Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, who leads
the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House energy
panel. :::snip:::
The company’s top crisis managers have been dispatched
to the gulf. Mr. Gowers, the BP spokesman, said the company
was now “considering some targeted advertising in
the affected states” to publicize how to make claims
and how to sign up to help with the cleanup.
Mr. Hayward also gave a briefing on Tuesday for reporters
from Gulf Coast newspapers and The Associated Press in
which he said he wanted to “win the hearts and minds” of
the people. :::snip:::
“We’re preparing for the worst,” said
Jim Hood, the attorney general of Mississippi, referring
both to the spill itself and the possibility of fierce
legal struggles. The state has been taking photos and video
of coastal areas and counting fish and birds, he said,
to have a record of what exists before the oil arrives.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/us/05spill.html?th&emc=th>
Unpredictable Current Is Wild Card in Gulf Disaster Scenarios
By PAUL VOOSEN of Greenwire
Published: May 5, 2010
An undersea conveyor belt to Florida is approaching the
Gulf Coast oil spill, and should it stretch past its typical
bounds, oil from the BP PLC accident, blobbing placidly
off the Louisiana coast, could soon stream into the Florida
Keys and up the United States' Eastern Seaboard.the Gulf
of Mexico," she said. "It should be in real time.
It should be ready." :::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/05/05greenwire-unpredictable-current-is-wild-card-in-gulf-dis-51911.html
News Analysis
Gulf Oil Spill Is Bad, but How Bad? By JOHN M. BRODER and
TOM ZELLER Jr.
Published: May 3, 2010
...Yet the Deepwater Horizon blowout is not unprecedented,
nor is it yet among the worst oil accidents in history.
And its ultimate impact will depend on a long list of interlinked
variables, including the weather, ocean currents, the properties
of the oil involved and the success or failure of the frantic
efforts to stanch the flow and remediate its effects. :::snip:::
“Right now what people are fearing has not materialized,” said
Edward B. Overton, professor emeritus of environmental
science at Louisiana State University and an expert on
oil spills. “People have the idea of an Exxon Valdez,
with a gunky, smelly black tide looming over the horizon
waiting to wash ashore. I do not anticipate this will happen
down here unless things get a lot worse.”
Dr. Overton said he was hopeful that efforts by BP to
place containment structures over the leaking parts of
the well will succeed, although he said it was a difficult
task that could actually make things worse by damaging
undersea pipes.
Other experts said that while the potential for catastrophe
remained, there were reasons to remain guardedly optimistic.
:::snip:::
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/science/earth/04enviro.html
Estimated spill is 70,000 barrels/day -- not the 5,000
originally estimated:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/05/drill-rig-owner-seeks-to-limit-gulf-spill-liability/1?csp=obnetwork
Breton National Wildlife Refuge and the Nesting Brown
Pelicans - May 3, 2010 John Blatchford
On 2 May 2010 Scientific American reported that there
is "the possibility of some oil beaching on the Chandeleur
Islands ... and ... the Breton National Wildlife refuge".
This would be very bad news for the Brown Pelican population
of this area. :::snip:::
The refuge suffered badly when Hurricane Katrina swept
past in 2005, and again in the same year when a small oil
spill from a storm-damaged drilling platform was blown
ashore. The hurricane destroyed many young pelicans at
their nest sites, and the oil fouled the area killing many
of those that were left.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has stated that the
Deepwater Horizon accident could "leak 100,000 barrels
of oil per day", making it much more serious than
the 2005 spill.
Brown Pelican Nesting Sites
The nesting grounds of the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
within the Breton National Wildlife Refuge are a critical
part of their habitat.
The pelicans are at their most vulnerable to oil fouling
when nesting on the ground, but even those nesting in mangrove
trees are dependent on nearby fish for survival. :::snip:::
http://news.suite101.com/article.cfm/breton-national-wildlife-refuge-and-the-nesting-brown-pelicans-a232962
5/3 On Point podcast: Oil Danger and the Gulf
Coast: http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/05/oil-danger
And maybe Americans are coming face-to-face again with the
implications of a fossil fuel-driven national life.
The
robots undersea have not stopped the oil. The booms on high
seas have not stopped the slick. The fishermen see what’s
coming and shake their heads.
It could get much worse before it gets better. And it’s
bad now. :::snip:::
Gulf Coast Towns Brace as Huge Oil Slick Nears Marshes
By LESLIE KAUFMAN and CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published, New York Times: May 1, 2010
COCODRIE, La. — Oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico
unabated Saturday, and officials conveyed little hope that
the flow could be contained soon, forcing towns along the
Gulf Coast to brace for what is increasingly understood
to be an imminent environmental disaster. :::snip:::
On the way to Terrebonne Bay, which was not yet affected
by oil on Friday, Dr. Kolker pointed out signs that the
marshes were weak: cypress trees, for example, dying by
the side of Route 10. Farther out, local fishermen tell
of pelicans whose nests were so crowded onto what remains
of sinking barrier islands that they looked like Manhattan
co-ops.
“The area can only sustain so many environmental
insults,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/02spill.html?ref=global-home
Allen Hershkowitz’s Blog
On Oil Spill Disasters and the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Posted May 1, 2010: Tonight is the White House Correspondents’ Association
annual dinner. NRDC coordinated the greening of that dinner.
But today it is impossible not to first think about the
oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and how it relates
to everything we do, including fancy dinners.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ahershkowitz/on_oil_spill_disasters_and_the_1.html
BP's containment problem is unprecedented, "an upside-down
faucet, just open and running out." LATimes, 4/30,
Jill Leovy:
The problem with the April 20 spill is
that it isn't really a spill: It‘s a gush, like an
underwater oil volcano. A hot column of oil and gas is
spurting into freezing, black waters nearly a mile down,
where the pressure nears a ton per inch, impossible for
divers to endure. Experts call it a continuous, round-the-clock
calamity, unlike a leaking tanker, which might empty in
hours or days.
"Everything about it is unprecedented," said
geochemist Christopher Reddy, an oil-spill expert and head
of the Coastal Ocean Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in Massachusetts. "All our knowledge is
based on a one-shot event…. With this, we don't
know when it's going to stop." :::snip:::
To BP falls the daunting task of trying to stop the gush
before it becomes the most damaging spill in American history.
If the flow is not stopped, it will exhaust the natural
reservoir of oil beneath the sea floor, experts say. Many
months, at least, could pass. :::snip::: The April 20 accident
50 miles off the Louisiana coast is presumed to have killed
11 people. It occurred 5,000 feet under the sea — many
times deeper, for example, than any platform now drilling
off the California coast. :::snip:::
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fix-20100501,0,323202,full.story
NPR/ INSKEEP: Catastrophic nest loss for (the Brown Pelican)
that was just taken off the endangered species list a few
years ago. Other birds could be affected too.
Driscoll directs Bird Conservative for the Louisiana Coastal
Initiative.
Ms. DRISCOLL: A lot of birds have just begun to nest so
they're on some of the outer coastal islands and out in
the marshes breeding. And because they have nests they
are more tied to a location, making it harder for them
to avoid the oil or just move to a more inland habitat.
In addition, near tropical migrant birds and a lot of
shore birds are sort of at the peak of their spring migration,
so there are greater densities in numbers of birds flying
across the Gulf of Mexico now, than would happen really
at any other time in the year, except for fall migration.
CSM Pictures: http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Louisiana-oil-spill
Christian Science Monitor
Experts: Most of Gulf of Mexico oil spill won't be cleaned
upBy Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor - posted
April 30, 2010 at 7:16 pm EDT
Despite BP's efforts, only a small percentage of the oil
from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be cleaned up, say
experts ::::snip::: History attests to the lingering problem
of oil spills. Exxon Valdez, one of the worst oil spills
ever, dumped more than 10 million gallons of crude into
Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. And there's
still a lot of oil that didn't get cleaned up, which has
continued to impact wildlife in the area for the past 20
years, experts say.
"Despite spending $2 billion dollars and using every
known clean-up method there was, they recovered 8 percent
of the spilled Exxon Valdez oil," said Jeffrey Short,
Pacific science director for Oceana, a Washington, D.C.–based
ocean conservation organization. "That is typical
of these exercises when you have a large marine oil spill.
You're doing really great if you [get] 20 percent." ::::snip::: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0430/Experts-Most-of-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-won-t-be-cleaned-up
Oil spill threatens brown pelicans, other creatures
State bird may return to fragile species list
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
April 29, 2010, 10:35PM
NEW ORLEANS —Wildlife authorities and environmentalists
waited warily, and wearily, as a huge oil spill took aim
Thursday at Louisiana's ecologically fragile coast, where
hundreds of species are in harm's way.
Forecasts showed the spill making a beeline for the pristine
barrier islands of Breton National Wildlife Refuge, home
to the brown pelican, which faces a new threat less than
six months after it was removed from the endangered species
list.
Louisiana's state bird is emblematic of challenges ahead
for those tasked with protecting the array of wildlife
along the Gulf Coast from the spill. The brown pelican,
royal tern and other shorebirds nest in the islands, which
are accessible only by boat.
The pelican, for one, nests in mangroves along the shoreline
and plunges into the water to feed on fish. Other species
make their nests in the sandy beaches.
“Their entire way of life makes them very, very
vulnerable,” said David Ringer, a Mississippi-based
spokesman for the National Audubon Society. :::snip:::
Oil spill could be disaster for animals, experts say
By Ashley Hayes, CNN
April 30, 2010 -- Updated 0236 GMT (1036 HKT)
(CNN) -- A huge oil spill oozing toward the Gulf Coast
on Thursday threatens hundreds of species of wildlife,
some in their prime breeding season, environmental organizations
said.
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that the amount of oil
spilling from an underwater well after an oil rig explosion
last week has increased to as many as 5,000 barrels of
oil a day, or 210,000 gallons, five times more than what
was originally believed.
Although efforts to minimize the damage are under way
and options under consideration include asking the U.S.
military for assistance, wildlife conservation groups say
the oil could pose a "growing environmental disaster."
"The terrible loss of 11 workers (unaccounted for
after the rig explosion) may be just the beginning of this
tragedy as the oil slick spreads toward sensitive coastal
areas vital to birds and marine life and to all the communities
that depend on them," said Melanie Driscoll, director
of bird conservation for the Louisiana Coastal Initiative,
in a statement.
Coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida
could be at risk, the organization said.
"For birds, the timing could not be worse; :::snip:::: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/oil.spill.wildlife/
(videos: responding to a spill, fishermen's livlihood
threatened, extent of spill, and Gulf Coast braces....)
Happier days....
April 29: The Fish and Wildlife Service is supporting
response efforts to the oil drilling rig explosion in the
Gulf of Mexico with specialists, land managers and support
personnel. Booms to capture and deflect anticipated oil
are being deployed at Breton National Wildlife Refuge,
where thousands of brown pelicans and shorebirds are nesting.
The service also is initiating natural resource damage
assessment and restoration activities in this incident
to assess and address the long-term damage. :::snip::::
Potential threats to bird life along the Gulf Coast
The greatest threat to bird life is to species which nest
along the barrier islands, beaches and shorelines along
the Gulf Coast. Species at risk include sandwich tern,
royal tern, least tern, Forster's tern, caspian tern,
brown pelican and black skimmer. Birds are most susceptible
to being oiled while foraging for fish and other food
items in the open Gulf waters or near nesting sites.
Nesting sites/colonies could also be at risk if storm
tides push oiled water over barrier islands or beaches
where those birds typically nest. :::snip:::
Refuge staff have estimated more than 34,000 birds, including
2,000 pairs of pelicans, 5,000 pairs of royal terns, 5,000
pairs of caspian terns and 5,000 pairs of feeding, loafing
and nesting gulls and other shore birds. :::snip:::
Deepwater Horizon oil spill to be set on fire to save US
coast Burn-off to start as robot submarines fail to shut
off flow of oil from wrecked rig
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 April 2010 16.04 BST
:::snip:::
Thousands of birds such as egrets and brown pelicans are
nesting on barrier islands close to the rig's wreckage.
If they are affected, rescuers would need to reach their
remote islands, wash them down and release them back into
the wild.
Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care
Network, said cleaning up brown pelican chicks after a
modest spill in Louisiana in 2005 was a big undertaking.
"Just about any petroleum can cause problems for
birds because they lose their waterproofing, and that's
what keeps them dry and warm," he said. "It's
a really difficult time, and we're close to the peak of
migration."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/28/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill
Δ
A reminder of the last major threat faced by the Brown
Pelicans and the man who worked to overcome it. There seems
to be no one of his stature now.
:::snip:::
John Philips – Guardian of marine life
At the time, the issue of ocean pollutants, particularly
the synthetic pesticide DDT, had become a pressing national
and international issue. Phillips' research and efforts
to raise awareness about the effects of DDT on brown pelicans
and other marine organisms had helped lead to the first
U.S. ban of the chemical in 1972. The brown pelican was
listed as an endangered species in 1970.
In 1969, Phillips sent an open letter to then-Gov. Ronald
Reagan, calling for a ban on DDT. The letter, signed by
60 marine scientists from 15 institutions, expressed concern
of "wholesale damage to important world fisheries" and
warned of the "possible loss of whole categories of
animals which play important roles in preserving on the
planet an environment favorable to man."
According to Baldridge, "it was evidence that was
gathered at Hopkins by Phillips and others that was able
to turn the tide on DDT and get control of some other pollutants."
The 1972 ban on DDT is cited as the primary reason that
the brown pelican population has recovered from the brink
of extinction. The bird was removed from the endangered
list in 2009. :::snip:::
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/april/john-phillips-obit-042010.html
Δ
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