BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence

[annabanana]

Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.

Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.

For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the pilot suddenly exclaimed, "Look at that!" The thin red line marking the federal flight restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the coastal barrier islands off Alabama.

"There's only one reason for that," the pilot said. "BP doesn't want the media taking pictures of oil on the beaches. You should see the oil that's about six miles off the coast," he said grimly. We looked down at the wavy orange boom surrounding the islands below us. The pilot shook his head. "There's no way those booms are going to stop what's offshore from hitting those beaches."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/from-the-ground-bp-censor_b_608724.html?ir=Daily%20Brief

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. If this is true are the local congressmen, legislatures addressing this

all the Gulf states have congressmen, legislatures, local councils who should be investigating this. BP does not own the ocean or the beaches.

[flyarm]

2. wanna bet? See what was done to our Senator from Fla..

Government Collusion with BP to Block Information Flow Means We Need an Independent Commission to Handle Spill Response


By: Jim White Thursday June 10, 2010 6:50 am
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/53862

Writing in Thursday’s New York Times, Jeremy W. Peters provides further documentation of what he titles "Efforts to Limit the Flow of Spill News". Perhaps the most damning evidence Peters provides comes from an effort by Florida Senator Bill Nelson to visit the Gulf with a group of reporters:

Last week, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, tried to bring a small group of journalists with him on a trip he was taking through the gulf on a Coast Guard vessel. Mr. Nelson’s office said the Coast Guard agreed to accommodate the reporters and camera operators. But at about 10 p.m. on the evening before the trip, someone from the Department of Homeland Security’s legislative affairs office called the senator’s office to tell them that no journalists would be allowed.

“They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same ‘federal asset,’ ” said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. “No further elaboration” was given, Mr. Gulley added.

Why would the Department of Homeland Security have a policy that prohibits elected officials and media being on the same ship in the Gulf? Is there any other explanation than a blatant attempt by the federal government to stifle reporting on conditions in the Gulf as they really exist, rather than as they have been presented by BP and federal "spokespeople"?



Maybe some here should have watched Anderson Cooper all week exposing this.......he had Nelson on who is furious!!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. Is Nelson bringing this up with his colleagues? What are they not supposed to see?

I think more Senators were down at the Gulf today.

[flyarm]

4. And i bet those senators saw exactly what they wanted them to see...

Bet they didn;t see the hidden dead Dolphin, whales and manatee!!

[JDPriestly]

5. The toxicity of this spill is unimaginable.

Benzene exposure has serious health effects. Outdoor air may contain low levels of benzene from tobacco smoke, wood smoke, automobile service stations, the transfer of gasoline, exhaust from motor vehicles, and industrial emissions.<21> Vapors from products that contain benzene, such as glues, paints, furniture wax, and detergents, can also be a source of exposure, although many of these have been modified or reformulated since the late 1970s to eliminate or reduce the benzene content. Air around hazardous waste sites or gas stations may contain higher levels of benzene.

The short term breathing of high levels of benzene can result in death, while low levels can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness. Eating or drinking foods containing high levels of benzene can cause vomiting, irritation of the stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, and death.

The major effects of benzene are manifested via chronic (long-term) exposure through the blood. Benzene damages the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and depress the immune system, increasing the chance of infection. Benzene causes leukemia and is associated with other blood cancers and pre-cancers of the blood.

Lots lots more at

blood.deathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzeneh.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene

A little benzene is emitted in some forest fires.

Benzene is soluble in water:

Dissolution
Dissolution of petroleum hydrocarbons into the water column poses risks to aquatic
organisms because of the acute toxicity of the compounds that have significant water
solubility. Figure 2-3 shows the solubility of normal alkanes, cycloalkanes, and
aromatic hydrocarbons in fresh water. It should be noted that solubilities in sea
water are lower, by about 70 percent (Sutton and Calder, 1974). Compounds with
2-5
Figure 2-3. Water solubility of the major components of crude oil, for three groups
of compounds, plotted by carbon number. (McAuliffe, 1983)
carbon numbers less than four are gases at ambient temperatures, so they are not of
concern. The monoaromatics have the highest solubilities, by a factor of 50, than
similar weight alkanes. Benzene has the highest solubility, at 1,750 mg/L, with
toluene at 515 mg/L, and xylene less than 100 mg/L. McAuliffe (1987) reported the
water-soluble fraction of six oils equilibrated with saline water, ranging from 20 to 40
ppm total dissolved hydrocarbons. Benzene plus toluene constituted from 70-85
percent of the aromatic fraction, and total aromatics constituted 35-80 percent of the
total dissolved hydrocarbons. Of the higher PAHs, naphthalene is the most watersoluble,
contributing 0.12 ppm to the water-soluble fraction of south Louisiana crude
and 0.02 ppm for Kuwait crude (McAuliffe, 1987). The amount of the next heavier
PAHs in the water-soluble fraction is 100 times lower than the naphthalenes.

http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/678_Chapter2.pdf

And benzene is just one component in the crude oil in the Gulf.

I remember not too long after the spill occurred, someone (don't remember whether this person was form BP or the government) stated with, as I recall, some relief, that the benzene was highly soluble in the water. That seemed to be presented as a positive factor in the mess.

I have no idea how toxic that water is at this time or how toxic it will become as time passes, the oil gradually breaks down (if that is what will happen), just what will happen.

I suspect that a lot of the delay is due to lack of knowledge of how to handle this much oil in a body of water of the size of the Gulf. I feel equally certain that teams of scientists are working trying to predict what will happen and planning how to respond. And I suspect that the experts disagree and are arguing. That's what experts do.

Meanwhile, I also assume that nobody wants to do the wrong thing. So, in fact, the only choice at this point may be to do nothing -- to avoid doing something that might turn out to be terribly, terribly wrong. Who would want to take responsibility for making the wrong decision and worsening the situation? Would you? Is inaction sometimes better than wrong action?

Think of this not as a "spill" as in "spilled milk" but as an explosion of toxic substances as in "nuclear explosion" into the Gulf. It may turn out that nature takes care of the toxicity in the water over time. At this point, I bet nobody knows how to proceed, what to do. We have stepped over a threshold into one huge nightmare.

I am not a scientist. I know a tiny bit about oil. That's all. If there are any people more knowledgeable than I am on this subject, please respond to my post.