Guest Post: Reappearance of Huge Plumes of Oil is Making It Hard to Pretend that the Problem Has Disappeared

→ Washington’s Blog

There is a flood of information coming out on the Gulf oil spill.

Why?

The reappearance of huge plumes of oil is making it hard to pretend that it has all gone away.

Here’s a roundup of some of the Gulf oil headlines from just the last 4 days:

• More Independent Scientists Report “Vast Volumes of Oil Present on Seafloor”; Independent Research AGAIN Directly Contradicts NOAA/Coast Guard Findings

• EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Confirmed Fish Kill on Grand Isle; “Overpowering Stench of Death and Decay” Coming From BP “Death Mounds”

• Coast Guard Claims That Miles-Long Expanse of Oil on Gulf Surface Is Algae; Boat Captain: “I’ve never seen algae that looked orange, that was sticky, smelled like oil and that stuck to the boat and had to be cleaned off with solvent”

• “They are dying” says registered nurse working in Florida — I’m seeing “people who have been chemically poisoned”

• Valdez Toxicologist: “People are dropping dead now” — “I don’t think we’ll have to wait years to see the effects like we did in Alaska”

• State officials admit: “Worried about FISHERY COLLAPSES, based on the collapse of the herring fishery” after the Exxon Valdez

• “I’m scared of what I’m finding” says chemist — Corexit combines with oil to generate new compounds, many with “double bonds”

• Fishermen Report Louisiana Bays Filled With Oil

• NEW TEST RESULTS: 8 out of 8 Blood Samples from BP Cleanup Workers Test Positive For Toxic Chemicals Found in BP Oil

• Feds Are Allowing BP to Leave Oil on Gulf Beaches

• Chemist: Women more at risk — “Bleeding from their vagina and anus. Small kids are bleeding from their ears. This stuff is busting red blood cells”

• Submerged oil surfaces: Fishermen say 10 MILE patch of brown foam “5 INCHES THICK with red swirls of oil”

• “They are literally shrimping in oil” says eyewitness — “It’s criminal” that officials keep waters open

• Catfish in lagoon “suffering burns across their heads and bodies” (VIDEO)

• Researchers discover oil plume drifting 300 miles from Macondo well (VIDEO)

• “May spark a whole new debate”: Scientist “astonished” that he found so much crude — Questions whether NOAA “dramatically understated” amount of oil in Gulf (VIDEO)

• “It’s Raining Bacteria”: Rain can spread flesh-eating microbes via “bio-aerosols” — “Also led to skin allergies and rashes”

• British Parliament report says Corexit 9500A “among the MOST CYTOTOXIC” dispersants studied — “Major concerns by lead scientists”

• Federal Government Intimidates More Independent Researchers

• 46% of BP Oil Spill wildlife cleanup workers reported RASHES, itchy skin, or red skin — 35% with headaches

• COREXIT appears to STILL be inside blue crab larvae says Tulane researchers in Gulf

• Engineer confirms: “Toxic Corexit 9500A in MS Sound” after well capped

• Senior NRDC Scientist: Still NO testing for heavy metals OR dispersant (VIDEO)

• Researchers find “VAST VOLUMES” of oil on seafloor — Includes “Thick Raw Crude”

• Scientists find “long plumes” of oxygen-depleted water “emanating” from BP’s Macondo well site

• Fishermen sprayed while sleeping in group of 20 boats tied together – Now under doctors’ care (VIDEO)

• Oil Spill Commission Co-Chair Startled By Federal Rig Inspectors’ Lack of Formal Training and Lack of Knowledge of Underwater Drilling Operations

• “We have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally.” — BP dispersants are causing sickness (this is published by Al Jazeera, but is written by award-winning American reporter Dahr Jamail and quotes American scientists)

• Chemist: Chemicals from dispersed oil “coming down as rain”

And Frontline and ProPublica released a new documentary called The Spill which says:

• BP has a terrible track record of safety

• Workers had “an exception degree of fear” and worried about dying at BP’s texas oil refinery, and BP’s own plant manager pleaded for safety measures to be implemented. Headquarters said no.

• BP’s giant Alaska facility was only designed to last until 1987, and then was supposed to be torn down. But instead, according to one of BP’s Alaska workers: “They’re going to run everything to failure”.

• BP’s philosophy is: “How many lives can we afford to lose before we have to deal with this?”

• BP stopped doing a basic oil pipeline safety measure, which caused a huge spill in Alaska

• BP used too few inspectors, and used unqualified inspectors

• The giant Thunderhorse platform fell over because a key part was installed backwards

• Internal documents show BP engineers trying to find ways to cut costs and cut corners, so BP bypassed numerous normal safety measures.

• When Tony Hayward took over as CEO, he said he was going to increase safety … at the same time he insisted on substantial new cost cutting measures.

• Because BP is not being reined in or restricted, and still has a cost-cutting culture, giant, future accidents will occur.

But as Greg Palast notes, The Spill is a whitewash sponsored by Chevron, rehashing information which Palast and others reported on years ago, and falsely implying that other oil companies have stellar safety records.