Saturday, June 5, 2010

Obama Sued To Avoid Gulf Disaster

Obama Administration Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar is supposed to be very careful in the Gulf of Mexico, and is supposed to be tough on British Petroleum (BP) regarding deep water drilling safety.

At least while the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is the talk of the town, that is.

That is not the case according to plaintiffs BP Contractor Kenneth Abbott and watchdog Food & Water Watch, Inc., who have sued the Obama Administration for injunctive relief in the Federal District Court in Houston, Texas.

Ironically the BP oil rig at issue is named BP Atlantis, which probably would be a good nickname for the Deepwater Horizon that sank beneath the waves like the legendary Atlantis.

In addition to the Complaint, the plaintiffs have filed a Motion For Preliminary Injunction which, if granted, would order the Obama Administration to order BP to cease and desist operations on the BP Atlantis deep water drilling rig until it complies with the law.

Dredd Blog has acquired copies of the Complaint, Motion For Preliminary Injunction (Motion), Exhibits A-F to the Motion, and a proposed Order Granting Preliminary Injunction.

That order has not been granted yet, since the Obama Administration has not yet replied nor has a hearing been held.

If granted, the proposed order would become an actual order, which would have this language:
The court finds as a fact that oil and gas production from the BP Atlantis facility is in violation of the statutes and applicable regulations, and that continued production from the facility constitutes and creates an imminent threat of immediate and irreparable harm to the environment of the Gulf of Mexico and waters of the United States located therein, the court further finds that the violations are so wide-ranging and pervasive that it would be impossible for such violations to be remedied within a short period of time and that an immediate shutdown of production from such platform is necessary for the protection of the environment of the Gulf of Mexico and waters of the United States located therein.
(Case 4:10-cv-01759, Document 2-7, Filed in TXSD on 05/17/10, Page 1 of 2). The Motion points out some interesting facts about BP Atlantis:
First producing oil in 2007, the BP Atlantis Facility is one of the deepest moored floating dual oil and gas-production facilities in the world. It has a production capacity of 8.4 million gallons of oil per day and 180 million cubic feet of gas per day.

...

In August 2008, Plaintiff Kenneth Abbott, a BP contractor who had been hired to supervise the BP’s databases that maintain critical project documentations, became aware that BP did not have a large number of “as-built” drawings for the subsea components of the BP Atlantis Facility, and specifically, that it did not have accurately coded and complete “as-built” drawings for its producing subsea components, including “as-built” risers and Piping and Instrument Diagrams (“P&IDs”). Engineering projects such as the BP Atlantis Facility involve multiple phases of engineering documents, beginning as design concepts and ending with “as-built” engineering documents.
(Case 4:10-cv-01759, Document 2, Filed in TXSD on 05/17/10, Page 2 of 21). Those with engineering or construction experience will at once realize the danger of not having as-built blueprints and supporting documentation.

It is at once clear how vital they are when we consider how Plan A (the original plan) can become Plan D, like it has in the Deepwater Horizon calamity as BP tries Plan A, then B, then C, and now Plan D.

Without actual drawings and specifications showing the final results, as compared to the original proposed drawings and specifications, one can only hope they were able to build exactly to original drawings and specifications.

It is not usual for that to happen, so the following words in the Motion ring true:
Because engineering documents may change drastically from the first phase “issued for approval” documentation to the final phase “as-built” documentation, “as-built” engineering documents are critical to operations as they reflect precisely the design of the component and system, and can be likened to vital “blueprints” for an incredibly complex structure involving millions of moving parts and systems. Simply put, without properly maintained “as-built” engineering documents, persons operating the BP Atlantis Facility are flying blind, and have no way to assure the safety of offshore drilling operations, and no way to assure that another calamitous oil spill, like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, will not reoccur.
(Case 4:10-cv-01759, Document 2, Filed in TXSD on 05/17/10, Page 3 of 21, emphasis added). There have been enough Atlantis events of late, so lets hope they prevail against BP.

If anyone wants a free copy of any of the documents in the case that were mentioned above, email Dredd Blog and I will send you a PDF of the document.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Hateful Oilboarding For Oilah Akbar

The worshippers of Oilah, the greatest drug peddler on this planet, are confused by the picture of reality.

The blood of their "savior", oil, which flows through the toxic blood veins of the god Oilah to fuel the weapons systems targeting millions of people around the world, ready to deliver nuclear winter at the drop of a hat, now covers birds, fish, ocean, beaches, the air, and marshes.

The truth is out for all to see, to embrace, or to cover with oil and reject once again.

When we explain that global warming is being caused by the blood of Oilah (oil and hardened oil, a.k.a. coal) the Inhofe, Palin, Jindal crowd cannot fathom it because it still snows in the winter months.

Will the pictures they see now, which will get much worse and spread, induce some of them to want to help shake the deadly toxic addiction?

Oilah's blood is also also lumbering under the surface of the gulf, out of their sight, forming island sized scabs of toxic plumes looking for more victims deep in the underwater dark alley ways far from our sight.

This is the real Oilah Akbar! Oilah Akbar!, the harbinger of death, the drug peddler of oil, which the whole world is a slave to and is deceived by.

Now the oil god Oilah has become angry and is trying to make us all blood worshipers by spraying bloody toxic oil on us far and wide while demanding our continued loyalty.

And Oilah's Priests are getting loyalty because freedom from the Oilah doctrine, the Oilah addiction, is not easy.

Even when our loved ones are tortured by oilboarding, then killed before our very eyes, we are told mantra style once again what we were told in 1973 concerning "going green", "these things don't happen overnight".

After they told us that in 1973 the addiction marched on, and marches against us still 37 years later.

Only the disasters seem to happen overnight; they happen in an instant, in a flash of exploding oil and gas, to spread flames and fumes of death into the life giving Earth.

Attending to the damage is what does not happen over night, shaking the addiction is what does not happen overnight, soothing the millions of victims is what does not happen overnight.

Yes, after Oilah Akbar has the temper tantrum and goes on a killing spree, it takes tankers full of time to stop the pain inflicted on innocent people, if the pain ever does stop at all.

Extinction of Earth species is accelerating, destruction of critical ecological cycles is increasing, to the point that scientists are not sure whether we have already passed the tipping point.

Meanwhile, "we" want our freedom from Oilah, "we" who are citizens of the good Earth, but all the government offers us is triage.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Bleep Goes On - Land Ho! - 3

The fate of Florida beaches near Pensacola may be blowing in the wind.

The fate of the oil addiction is not so uncertain, however, because it seems that our government is bound and determined to keep oil addiction safe from extinction, but the same cannot be said for Earth life.

The winds are blowing on shore toward Florida from the Gulf of Mexico, meaning oil may foul Florida beaches over the weekend.

Meanwhile the federal government has approved new offshore drilling:
Federal regulators approved Wednesday the first new Gulf of Mexico oil well since President Barack Obama lifted a brief ban on drilling in shallow water, even while deepwater projects remain frozen after the massive BP spill.

The Minerals Management Service granted a new drilling permit sought by Bandon Oil and Gas for a site about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana and 115 feet below the ocean's surface. It's south of Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge and Game Preserve, far to the west of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the BP spill.
(ABC News). It is as if they are doubling down on the oil addiction in the same area where the greatest ecological disaster in U.S. history still spews toxins and is still out of control.

Out of control addiction has a future right up to the end in Bullshitistan, because the toxic oil pushers keep giving federal officials a taste:
As Congress investigated its role in the doomed Deep Horizon oil rig, Halliburton donated $17,000 to candidates running for federal office, giving money to several lawmakers on committees that have launched inquiries into the massive spill.

The Texas-based oil giant’s political action committee made 14 contributions during the month of May, according to a federal campaign report filed Wednesday — 13 to Republicans and one to a Democrat. It was the busiest donation month for Halliburton’s PAC since September 2008.

Of the 10 current members of Congress who got money from Halliburton in May, seven are on committees with oversight of the oil spill and its aftermath.
(Politico, emphasis added). Flagrant and open bribery is their understanding of "open government" I suppose.

Open bribery for all to see.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Honest People Shine In This Darkness

It is way past time that true heroes are recognized in this false-hero infested nation.

It has been too long that murderous mob-type thugs, who are murdering our reputation as well as murdering innocent people around the globe, have been sold by the used car salesman media as heroes.

The Gulf Oil Blog with its honest scientists shines through in this darkness like a breath of fresh air from the old Gulf of Mexico years B.C. and years BP (before petroleum).

Dredd blog predicted that we (human civilization) were moving closer to disaster on the day that President Obama announced offshore drilling expansion.

Later, when the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe began, we reflected on our suspicions that the oil barons and media of MOMCOM, including the federal government, would at first try to propagandise their way out of what their own ignorance of reality had brought upon Americans.

Even to this day BP is denying the existence of oil plumes below the surface, but some sharp scientists at Gulf Oil Blog are shining through that BP darkness.

Open Thread



It is getting crazy out there ...



The Wars Continue:
N.Korea vs. S.Korea
Israel vs. Aid/Relief Workers, 10 dead
U.S. vs. Afghanistan
U.S. vs. Iraq
Turkey vs. Israel

Civilization vs. Earth Continues:
Hurricane Season "Opened" Yesterday

First Tropical Storm Agatha Kills 175

Giant Sinkhole 100' x 200' sucks in 3 story bldg, guard dies

BP vs. The Gulf of Mexico Continues:
Obama Regrets His Embrace of Drill Baby Drill?

BP Incompetence

U.S. Attorney General Holder Opens Criminal Investigation

BP To Try Again To Stop The Bleeding

**Deepwater Horizon Blog Begins**
(to track the massive plumes that BP denies)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Mythology Of Hope

When President Elect Obama went to the White House to visit Bush II hope was in the air.

The bubble had burst on every major policy of the neoCon bushies.

The political landscape looked like it was the aftermath of a massive destructive force.

The Audacity of Hope had charisma and the future could be seen as light at the end of the tunnel.

We were sure we were going to move out of the tunnel and into the light of day once again.

But that light at the end of the tunnel began to move further away as it began to dawn on those of us in the greater majority who voted for Obama, that he seemed to have been given a compass that led to all the wrong places Bush II had already been and polluted.

Now that light is a pinhole, and we seem to be going backwards.

The main stream media is all over the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, as one of the larger circulation newspapers shouts:
'Everybody's lost hope'

"Everybody's lost hope," said councilman Jay LaFont of Grand Isle, La., where beaches and its fishing industry were closed because of the spill. "As long as you have something to look forward to, a little glimmer of hope, you can move on. But this just drained everything out of us."
(USA Today). This comes at a time when U.S. citizens have had their fill of endless war, massive financial failures, millions losing homes and jobs, inept government, and loss of reputation in the world at large.

The Attorney General has been sent to sniff out crime at the disaster scene, but we have already seen Holder's heart too.

He let AIG off so BP will not soon be shaking in their boots.

Monday, May 31, 2010

On The Memorial Daze

Extinction of Wisdom
The list of extinct species is too long for a year of posts.

So, below we mention only a few of those who died at the hands of "civilization".

These are simply innocent species of the Earth that were murdered.

Yes, they were murdered as they obeyed the laws of the environment, which are a subset of the laws of the cosmos.

What horrid ideology would actively promote the willing destruction of these valid members of the habitat, members that have something we need - the healthy environment we must have in order to survive on this planet?

What cognition would dare to call itself intelligent as it slowly smothers those it claims to love who depend on the natural world?

The answer is a mind that has become toxic with the intoxication of power, the amnesia of ignorance, and the lust of selfishness.

Extinct modern bird species come from many groups: Struthioniformes, Anseriformes, Galliformes, Charadriiformes, Gruiformes, Podicipediformes, Ciconiiformes, Pelecaniformes, Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Columbiformes, Psittaciformes, Cuculiformes, Falconiformes, Strigiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes, Passeriformes, Struthioniformes, Tinamiformes, Anseriformes, Galliformes, Charadriiformes, Gruiformes, Ciconiiformes, Pteroclidiformes, Columbiformes, Psittaciformes, Cuculiformes, Falconiformes, Strigiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes, Coraciiformes, Piciformes, Passeriformes.

Enough of the old language, here are some modern names to go along with the art & graphics: King Island Emu, Elephant Bird, Upland Moa, Kangaroo Island Emu, West Coast Spotted Kiwi, Labrador Duck, Korean Crested Shelduck, Réunion Shelduck, Mauritian Shelduck, Amsterdam Island Duck, Saint Paul Island Duck, Mauritian Duck, Mariana Mallard, Finsch's Duck, Pink-headed Duck, Réunion Pochard, Auckland Islands Merganser, New Zealand Quail, The Double-banded Argus, The Pile-builder Megapode, The Viti Levu Scrubfowl, Raoul Island Scrubfowl, Himalayan Quail, Great Auk, Javanese Lapwing, Tahitian Sandpiper, White-winged Sandpiper, Eskimo Curlew, Slender-billed Curlew, Canarian Black Oystercatcher, Leguat's Giant, Tahitian Red-billed Rail, Antillean Cave-rail, Hawkins' Rail, Red Rail, Rodrigues Rail, Bar-winged Rail, New Caledonian Rail, Wake Island Rail, Tahiti Rail, Dieffenbach's Rail, Vava'u Rail, The Norfolk Island Rail, Chatham Rail, Réunion Rail or Dubois's Wood-rail, Ascension Flightless Crake, Saint Helena Crake, Laysan Rail, Hawaiian Rail, Kosrae Island Crake, Miller's Rail, Saint Helena Swamphen, Lord Howe Swamphen, Réunion Swamphen or Oiseau bleu, Marquesas Swamphen, The North Island Takahē, New Caledonia Swamphen, Samoan Wood Rail, Makira Wood Rail, Tristan Moorhen, Mascarene Coot, Fernando de Noronha Rail, Tahitian "Goose", Bokaak "Bustard", Colombian Grebe, Alaotra Grebe, Atitlán Grebe, Bermuda Night Heron, Réunion Night Heron, Mauritius Night Heron, Rodrigues Night Heron, Ascension Night Heron, New Zealand Little Bittern, Réunion Sacred Ibis, Spectacled Cormorant, Small Saint Helena Petrel, Bermuda Shearwater, Large Saint Helena Petrel, Jamaica Petrel, Guadalupe Storm-petrel, The Chatham Islands Penguin, Saint Helena Dove, Passenger Pigeon, Bonin Woodpigeon, Ryukyu Woodpigeon, Réunion Pink Pigeon, Rodrigues Turtle-dove, Liverpool Pigeon, Sulu Bleeding-heart, Norfolk Island Ground-dove, Tanna Ground-dove, Thick-billed Ground-dove, Choiseul Crested Pigeon, Red-moustached Fruit-dove, Mauritius Blue Pigeon, Rodrigues Grey Pigeon, New Caledonian Lorikeet, Society Parakeet, Black-fronted Parakeet, Paradise Parrot, The Oceanic Eclectus Parrot, Seychelles Parakeet, Newton's Parakeet, Thirioux's Grey Parrot, Mascarene Parrot, Broad-billed Parrot, Rodrigues Parrot, Glaucous Macaw, Cuban Red Macaw, Carolina Parakeet, Guadeloupe Parakeet, Martinique Amazon, Guadeloupe Amazon, Guadalupe Caracara, Réunion Owl, Mauritius Owl, Rodrigues Owl, New Caledonian Boobook, Laughing Owl, The Puerto Rican Barn-owl, The Bahaman Barn-owl, Siau Scops-owl, Jamaican Pauraque, Cuban Pauraque, Vaurie's Nightjar, Coppery Thorntail, Brace's Emerald, Gould's Emerald, Bogota Sunangel, Turquoise-throated Puffleg, Ryūkyū Kingfisher, Giant Hoopoe, Imperial Woodpecker, Stephens Island Wren, Bush Wren, Táchira Antpitta, Kioea, Chatham Island Bellbird, Lord Howe Gerygone, Mangarevan Whistler, Maupiti Monarch, Nuku Hiva Monarch, Ua Pou Monarch, Guam Flycatcher, Short-toed Nuthatch Vanga, North Island Piopio, South Island Piopio, White-eyed River Martin, Red Sea Swallow, Moorea Reed-warbler, Rueck's Blue Flycatcher, Chatham Islands Fernbird, Tana River Cisticola, Lord Howe White-eye, Black-browed Babbler, Rodrigues Bulbul, Aldabra Brush-warbler, Rodrigues "Babbler", Kosrae Island Starling, Mysterious Starling, Tasman Starling, Pohnpei Starling, Bay Starling, Bourbon Crested Starling, Rodrigues Starling, Grand Cayman Thrush, Bonin Thrush, Cozumel Thrasher, Black-lored Waxbill, Slender-billed Grackle, Bachman's Warbler, Semper's Warbler, Réunion Fody, Tawny-headed Mountain Finch, Bonin Grosbeak, Lanaʻi Hookbill, Pila's Palila, Lesser Koa Finch, Greater Koa Finch, Kona Grosbeak, Greater ʻAmakihi, Nukupuʻu, Hawaiʻi ʻAkialoa or Lesser ʻAkialoa, Greater ʻAkialoa, to name a TINY FRACTION of the extinct bird species.

Next Memorial Day we will list some mammals and fish, like the Bottom-dwelling Pancake Batfish to remind ourselves once again that we are destroying more species each year than at any time in our knowledge.

Frankly, it may already be too late in the sense that The Damage Has Been Done ...

The next post in this series is here.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

One Thing To Fear Is Oil Addiction

The demise of the presidency of Barack Obama, in the eyes of environmentalists and others around the warming globe, who are against trusting the oil barons (a subset of the plunder barons, a subset of the robber barons) continues unabated.

President Obama's public statement and decision (about three weeks before the greatest offshore oil drilling disaster in U.S. history began) to allow offshore drilling because "the tired old arguments" against it were now moot because of all "the improvements in oil drilling technology", will go down as one of the most foolish, unaware, dumb, and dangerous decisions ever made:
The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time ... the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of his supporters aback ...
(NY Times). It will become known as the "top kill" policy which killed the top politician's effect in the top office in the federal government, at least to those who know "the sheer breadth" of the insanity of that decision.

The oil barons, plunder barons, yes, the robber barons now may be getting scared themselves:
Mr Suttles said BP had determined that the "top kill" method - which had been going on since Wednesday - had failed after studying the results for three days.

"We have not been able to stop the flow," he told reporters on Saturday.

"This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't suceeded [sic] so far," he said.
(BBC News, emphasis added). Oh, but you oilsters are a great "success" in the eyes of Wall Street, The White House, The Congress, and the world wide corporate community.

You are a great "success" at deceiving the world into believing oil addiction is the only addiction available, the only "solution."

You in power are criminally insane because you have removed accountability to the people from your sphere.

The result is that accountability is now in the hands of a planet that has a "Toyota gas pedal" that you installed on it.

So get ready to experience your insanity like never before, because what is going to happen will eventually drive everyone insane with fear.