The B.P. Oil Spill

Florence

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SAN FRANCISCO— The Obama administration announced plans on Thursday to dramatically expand offshore oil drilling, including in the Arctic and the heart of critical habitat for polar bears. The plan will also expand high-risk, ultra-deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which is still suffering the effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that spilled more than 200 million gallons of oil.

The five-year plan schedules 15 lease sales in six offshore areas, including the Arctic’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where an oil spill in remote areas would be nearly impossible to clean up, and portions of the Gulf of Mexico near areas where development has so far been off-limits. The plan encourages further reliance on oil and threatens species already stressed by the impacts of climate change.

“President Obama is doubling down on risky offshore oil development when he should be investing in clean energy,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This plan is a one-two punch to vulnerable wildlife like polar bears. They’re already being killed off by climate change, and now they’re facing dangerous, dirty drilling right where they live.”

The Obama plan represents a long-term commitment to offshore oil drilling at a time when Arctic monitoring stations have reported carbon dioxide levels in the region have reached 400 parts per million — a milestone that underscores the risks of greenhouse gas pollution. Leading climate scientists say CO2 concentrations should be reduced to 350 ppm to avoid catastrophic, irreversible impacts.

The Chukchi and Beaufort lease sales take place in critical habitat for polar bears, which were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. Scientific studies show that, because of the rapid melting of their Arctic habitat, two-thirds of the world’s polar bears, including all those in Alaska, are likely to be extinct within the next 40 years unless greenhouse gas pollution is significantly reduced.

“Polar bears are already teetering on the brink of extinction. Policies that worsen climate change and raise the risk of disastrous oil spills in their habitat will push them over the edge,” said Sakashita.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 375,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Contact Info: Miyoko Sakashita, (415) 632-5308

Website : Center for Biological Diversity

The 1.8 million gallons of dispersant that BP and federal responders spread on the massive Gulf oil spill in 2010 are already coming back to haunt them. FuelFix.com, a Houston Chronicle spinoff devoted to covering energy, reports today that the company that manufactures Corexit, the chemical sprayed on the surface of the Gulf and at the wellhead to disperse the oil in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, is trying to get out of a proposed settlement with plaintiffs who say they have health problems resulting from the spill and cleanup.

Corexit manufacturer Nalco wants the US district judge handling the case in New Orleans to exempt it from any liability in the settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against BP and other companies involved in the disaster on behalf of more than 10,000 plaintiffs. In March, the plaintiffs and BP reached a settlement agreement that is expected to cost $7.8 billion and would cover both economic loss and medical claims, and would also establish a program to monitor the health of affected individuals. The judge is now deciding whether to approve the agreement, but Nalco says that not only should it not be included the companies that are asked to pay up in this case, but it should be excluded from any future cases:

The spill responders contend that the federal Clean Water Act provides them immunity from liability for actions taken at the government’s direction.

"Nalco provided Corexit at the express request of the federal on-site coordinators," Nalco attorneys wrote in the dismissal motion filed in May. "Nalco supplied a product that was and had been listed on the federal government's list of approved dispersants for decades and that the government repeatedly approved for use during the response."

This is a compelling argument, because it is true: Corexit was listed as an approved dispersant, and it was what BP decided to use on the Gulf. The problem, though, is something we've covered here before: The federal government doesn't consider the human or environmental effects of the chemicals when approving them for the list. Companies like Nalco don't even have to disclose what kinds of chemicals are in their product in order to get them approved, thanks to the extremely outdated and industry-friendly chemical regulation laws in this country. Current chemical regulation laws actually makes it really difficult for the Environmental Protection Agency to do more than give these chemicals a rubber stamp.

Meanwhile, chemicals used in the dispersant can cause liver and kidney damage, as well as other health problems. Studies since the spill have found that the dispersants are sticking around longer than people expected and can be absorbed through the skin. In the weeks and months after the spill, many cleanup workers and nearby residents complained of ill health effects like nausea and rashes they believed were caused by the chemicals. So is Nalco liable for supplying the chemicals, or BP for buying them, or the federal government, which was supposed to be overseeing the clean up work?

If Nalco is granted an exclusion in the lawsuit, it would leave the plaintiffs who believe they are sick because of exposure to the chemicals in a tough spot: they can sign onto the settlement now, or try again to sue Nalco later. Neither option is great, according to the lawyers representing the plaintiffs:

"We are recommending the medical settlement program for most of our clients, even though it leaves Nalco off the hook," [Beaumont-based lawyer Brent] Coon said. "The reality is, most people exposed to these kinds of toxins don’t develop a disease for many years. For most plaintiffs that were exposed, it is premature to sue, and the medical monitoring program at least develops a mechanism to measure how they were impacted."

But Louisiana-based lawyer Daniel Becnel says he is encouraging the 3,500 cleanup workers he represents to fight their cases in court.

"I have hundreds of people that are horribly sick," Becnel said.

The Gulf oil disaster had a devastating impact on the Gulf in the Mississippi River Delta and beyond. But it was just the latest assault on the region’s ecosystems after years of degradation from human impacts and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

The lingering effects of the more than 200 million gallons of oil that seeped into the Gulf is still devastating local wildlife and compounding the Mississippi River Delta's longstanding erosion problems that cause an average of a football field of marsh habitat to vanish into the Gulf every hour.

Throughout the year following the oil spill, thousands of birds, hundreds of endangered sea turtles and dozens of dolphins were found dead in the disaster zone.

Under the Clean Water Act, BP could face as much as $20 billion in fines for its responsibility in the oil disaster.

National Wildlife Federation has fought to make sure this money goes directly into recovering the Gulf and the communities that depend on it.

The RESTORE Act (Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunity and Revived Economics of the Gulf States Act of 2011) will invest 80 percent of fines by BP and other parties directly in areas affects by the disaster.

Bipartisan surveys show that an overwhelming 83 percent of voters support efforts to dedicate the BP oil penalties to restoration of the Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast.

The endangered brown pelicans were starting to nest when the Deepwater Horizon well exploded in 2010. On one small island, biologists found over 300 oiled pelicans in a single day. Biologists remain concerned about the long-term impacts of the dispersed and submerged oil on the pelican’s food chain and nesting grounds.

Scientists are currently investigating the oil’s impacts on many different species of fish as well as sea turtles and dolphins, but the full impact on wildlife may never be known. Previous oil spill disasters have taken years to reveal their full effects and often recovery is still not complete after decades. Impacts of the Gulf oil spill will likewise be unfolding for years, if not decades.

Using 80 percent of the CWA penalties from the Gulf oil disaster, the RESTORE Act establishes a trust account to restore both the economic and environmental health of the Gulf Coast. A majority portion of these penalties (60 percent) will be allocated to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, to be spent in two ways:

• Half of the funds will be used to implement the Council’s comprehensive federal environmental plan.
• The other half will be distributed to the five Gulf States based on oil spill impacts and spent according to each individual state’s plan, which will be consistent with the comprehensive federal plan.

A smaller portion (35 percent) will be available to Gulf Coast states to be used within the impacted region for environmental and economic restoration. The remainder (5 percent) will be dedicated to science and monitoring of Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration and fisheries.

Learn more about the impacts to wildlife and habitat from the Gulf Oil Disaster >>

Recovery of the Gulf Coast is a national economic imperative. Many of the nation's key economic resources depend upon the Gulf’s fragile and threatened ecosystems including:

• A third of all domestic oil production
• 10 of our nation's 15 largest shipping ports
• Roughly 40 percent of commercial seafood production in the lower 48 states
• A $34 billion per year tourism industry

Restoring the Gulf will make the region more resilient, lessen the potential damage from future hurricanes and flooding, and create tens of thousands of jobs.

NWF is working with a coalition of conservation groups to help recover the environmental and economic health of the Gulf ecosystem, for wildlife, local communities and the nation.

Why was this bill so important? Under the Clean Water Act, BP could face as much as $20 billion in fines for its responsibility in the oil disaster.

National Wildlife Federation and our members and supporters have been fighting for two years to make sure the Gulf gets the help it deserves. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this a reality!

The icing on the cake is that the legislation passed today does NOT include language that would have forced approval of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. This was a very real threat and would have put endangered whooping cranes and swift foxes at risk of toxic oil spills, while also driving a rapid expansion of habitat-destroying tar sands operations that could put the lives of thousands of Canada’s wolves and caribou at risk.

This tremendous victory for wildlife is a testament to how Americans can hold our elected officials accountable to protecting America's wildlife.

Let's go celebrate!

Cross-posted from Wildlife Promise.

More than two years into the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, Congress passed the RESTORE Act today, which ensures that money from BP's oil spill fines will be dedicated to Gulf Coast restoration.

Thanks to the persistent voices of hundreds of thousands of wildlife advocates, Congress passed a Transportation Package that includes the potential for the largest investment in wildlife conservation in U.S. history and two very important wins for wildlife against Big Oil.

More than two years into the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, Congress passed the RESTORE Act today, which ensures that money from BP’s oil spill fines will be dedicated to Gulf Coast restoration.

This is a HUGE win for brown pelicans, dolphins and sea turtles that are still being impacted by the oil spill disaster that began in April 2010.

http://act.oceana.org/letter/l-turtles-ted/?rd=1&source=mailing&t=3&utm_campaign=turtles&utm_medium=mailing&utm_source=advocacy&referring_akid=2454.358655.MtORqA

ave sea turtles from drowning

 

New regulations would give turtles an escape from deadly shrimp nets

Tens of thousands of turtles are caught in fishing gear every year. Trapped underwater for more than an hour, many of these turtles die by drowning.

But there is an alternative. Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) provide an "escape hatch" for turtles caught in shrimp nets, but not all fishermen have been required to use them. Meanwhile, turtles in the Gulf are dying. All six sea turtle species in the U.S are threatened or endangered, and every loss counts.

But a new proposed regulation will require all shrimp trawlers in the Gulf and southeast Atlantic to use TEDs. This new rule will save lives—if it goes through. Sign TODAY to tell the National Marine Fisheries Service that you support new regulations to protect turtles from shrimp nets.

Cher

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US Politics & Gov't  (tags: Health, Environment )
Walter L - 7 days ago - worldtruth.tv

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Gulf of Mexico red snapper catch limit to increase

Category: Wildlife
Type: News
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Date: Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

http://www.care2.com/causes/yahoo-profits-from-illegal-slaughter-of-whales.html#ixzz1xvseOX3t

Oil Spill Contamination Worries Albertans