Groundhog (Choking On Oil) Day

Oil-related catastrophes simply refuse to leave me alone. I mean, WHAT.

840,000 gallons of oil from a corroded Enbridge Energy pipeline have leaked into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River near Battle Creek this past week. More specifically, “The oil is moving from Talmadge Creek into the Kalamazoo River, which flows from near the city of Battle Creek into Lake Michigan.” Swell.

Edward Vielmetti, friend of New Orleans and lead blogger at AnnArbor.com has been doing yeoman’s work staying on top of the story and associated political foibles as it unfolds. Follow Ed on Twitter for up to the minute information. For more, I suggest you follow Canadian news on this story because a) Enbridge Energy is a Canadian company and b) there’s a certain sheen, shall we say, to the quality of FoxMSNBCNN reporting: CBC News says 3.7 million litres while CNN says 19,500 barrels. Been there, done that, right?

Some other things that ought to sound terribly familiar to Gulf Coast residents. Here’s #2: Michigan oil spill: U.S. warned Canadian company about pipeline monitoring

3) Expect the same old disheartening song and dance from the Yankee right. The Michigan Messenger reports:

State Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland) has introduced legislation in the State Senate to lift a cap on costs oil companies have to pay for clean ups associated with their pipelines.

Anderson told Jack Ebling on WILS 1320 AM radio Wednesday that right now, state law caps the damages a company is liable for at $15 million.

But the Senate, which is dominated by Republicans, adjourned for a mid-summer break without acting on Anderson’s legislation.

“They chose to do nothing with it,” Anderson said. “They passed a resolution that called on officials from the federal government to the locals to do all they can. That’s nothing but talk.”

3a) Chicago’s Mayor Daley: Michigan oil spill worse than Asian carp so “Michigan better do something about the investigation, the criminal and civil investigation. Who’s paying for it, and who had the oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, because it’s flowing into Lake Michigan.” Blarghblarblar.

And 4) @Enbridge_PR “Lake Michigan is not as big as the Gulf of Mexico, but we’re gonna try to beat those filthy Brits at their own game! @bpglobalpr” Right down to the fake Twitter account.

Wake me up when it’s all over, ferchrissakes.

July 29, 2010 | Filed under: energy,environment,government,media,midwest,we are not ok,wtf | No Comments »

Day 101

LiveScience | What Will Happen During the Next 100 Days of the Oil Spill?

… scientists say it could take decades to comprehend the toll the last 100 days took on wildlife — from sea turtles to bacteria.

Currently, oil covers approximately 638 miles (1,026 kilometers) of Gulf shoreline, according to the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center

… can only hope that about 35 years from now, when these hatchlings reach maturity, they will still have the same instinct to return to the beaches where their mothers nested to lay eggs.

The size of the “dead zones,” where low oxygen levels cause marine life to languish and die, may grow in the coming days … [But] “the Gulf, with the warm temperature and the sunshine, can break down the oil really fast,” [University of Texas Marine Science Institute marine researcher Zhanfei] Liu said. “It spreads out, the bacteria attacks the oil really fast. This is not like the oil spill in Alaska.”

Undoubtedly, hurricanes will visit the Gulf within the next 100 days — hurricane season won’t end until the beginning of December … But scientists cannot predict how a hurricane might disperse the oil.

Put differently, our fate is similar to that of Joel, Crow and Tom Servo, trapped on a spaceship and forced to watch this low-budget horror movie play out until god knows when.

Image from Photoshop of Horrors: Wired Readers Show BP How It’s Done

| Filed under: energy,environment,louisiana,we are not ok,wtf | No Comments »

Day 78 Oil Has Reached Lake Pontchartrain

Or as D says, “Oh good, now we won’t have to drive all the way down to the coast to see it.”

nola.com gallery: Oil has reached Lake Pontchartrain “Strong southeast winds [have] pushed [it] into Lake Pontchartrain Monday July 5, 2010.”

Update: 1,020 pounds of oil waste removed from Rigolets and lake

July 6, 2010 | Filed under: energy,environment,louisiana,new orleans,wtf | 2 Comments »

Day 72

(Image ganked from Ian McGibboney)

Don’t you hate it when news outfits won’t just report the, uh, news and even the better ones succumb to the cute wordplay angle or feel that they have to cast current American events in a larger political light? For the love of information, does everything have to be couched in re-electability, i.e. how a given political figure’s reaction to a given issue positions them on the Upcoming Elections Risk boardgame?

Like today’s NPR Morning Edition segment on Bobby Jindal: Oil Spill Crisis Puts Jindal Back On Center Stage.  I think they played “again a rising star” three times in the lead-up. And they even put up the Messiah Bobby picture on the web edition.

Let’s see how the governor has really been doing, shall we?

NYTimes | Louisiana Wants U.S. Help, and Its Own Way

[I]nterviews with more than two dozen state and federal officials and experts suggest that Louisiana, from the earliest days of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has often disregarded its own plans and experts in favor of large-scale proposals that many say would probably have had limited effectiveness and could have even hampered the response.

CBS | Gulf Coast Governors Leaving National Guard Idle

But nearly two months after the governor requested – and the Department of Defense approved the use of 6,000 Louisiana National Guard troops – only a fraction – 1,053 – have actually been deployed by Jindal to fight the spill.

Businessweek | La. gov’s budget vetoes hit his political foes

Coastal parish lawmakers argued local communities can’t afford to float [$24.9 million] for response efforts and wait for reimbursement.

“The local governments are crying for financial help, and apparently the governor’s decided to let them go cry to BP and let the chips fall where they may,” [Louisiana House Speaker Jim] Tucker said Monday.

Sensuous Curmudgeon | As the Gulf Gushes, Jindal & Creationists Pray

The only thing that surprises us is how such a misfortune could have occurred at all — and to Louisiana of all places. Surely, with the concentrated spiritual power of that state’s creationist population, they should have have been immune to this kind of thing.

And now, Jeffrey with the wrap-up: “I never said Bobby Jindal isn’t full of shit. Only said that his full-of-shitness was briefly loud enough to draw attention to the fact that others were also full of shit. But in the end, it’s important to remember that Bobby Jindal is pretty damned full of shit too.”

In other words: Now, you listen here, he’s not the messiah. In fact, he’s a very naughty boy. Now go away!

June 30, 2010 | Filed under: energy,government,louisiana,media,we are not ok,wtf | No Comments »

Day 57 BP’s “Nightmare” Well

Wired | BP’s ‘Nightmare’ Well: Internal Documents Uncover Negligence

In addition to BP’s decision not to use a liner, the committee’s letter describes four other examples of risky negligence.

Five big corners were cut. But, “accidents happen,” right?

They weren’t kidding about the MC252 well being a nightmare. The ship that was collecting oil via the LMRP caught fire, presumably due to lightning. Collection operations have been suspended until they get this latest development sorted out. What next? I’m trying very hard not to let the word “snake-bitten” enter my vernacular.

Incidentally, lightning also struck and burned down Touchdown Jesus south of here.

I don’t know what all of this means.

June 15, 2010 | Filed under: energy,environment,louisiana,ohio,we are not ok,wtf | 4 Comments »

Day 52 Links

The last post’s picture reminds me that we now live in the Shire: bucolic and gorgeous, as it should be, but with most of its inhabitants blissfully and deliberately unconcerned by that which lies beyond the Misty Mountains. I hear we’re getting an Indian restaurant. Maybe.

* CBS | How Much Oil Has Leaked? “Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, British Petroleum has consistently denied reports of massive underwater oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico.”

* This Oil Drum post explores the science behind the underwater sampling of the aforementioned plumes, explains what varying concentrations of oil at different water depths means for its breakdown and also discusses topside oil removal and transportation options.

* Letters In Bottles | Barring Media From The Spill “Journalists struggling to document the impact of the oil rig explosion have repeatedly found themselves turned away from public areas affected by the spill, and not only by BP and its contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials.”

* Hurricane Radio | Anti-British Rhetoric “Lord Tebbit, the former government minister, also criticised Obama’s attacks on BP and its management: ‘The whole might of American wealth and technology is displayed as utterly unable to deal with the disastrous spill – so what more natural than a crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan political presidential petulance against a multinational company?’”

As someone who once interned with BP America Inc., I never until this moment even conceived of this disaster as the fault of the British but that of a company that made some extremely foolish decisions as well as horrible corporation-government response. Lord Tebbit had to go there. And since His Refinement doesn’t find it uncouth to respond to perceived xenophobia in kind,  I offer a Humble Petition: You’re damned right we’re angry. At BP. If you feel the need to hide BP under your skirt, however, and spew anti-American sentiment on said multinational company’s behalf, would you be so kind as never to let it back into American waters on false pretenses because, by then, we will have a lot more than simple petulance? Oh, and I hear your pound is now down to about 1.5 of our dollars. So, bite my shiny brown American ass. How’s that for crude?

(A million apologies to my British friends who I’m sure are miffed with BP, American government officials and the way this is being handled by everyone involved to date, know we’re all in this together and just want this mess addressed properly as much as I do. This was not directed at you. I am giggling a little bit about your currency, though.)

* True/Slant | BP’s “Get It Right” Rites “There seems to be much more corporate concern over preserving the financial health of the company than that of those who were simply going about their business while the renegade drillers carelessly set off their calamitous gusher.  Chances are those life-sustaining businesses will be wiped out while the  procedural obstacles block meaningful assistance till it’s too late. Note to BP: Get rid of those ads, and probably the CEO. Both are looking so ludicrous they’ve become laughingstocks.  The money can be put to much better use than smarmy PR.”

* nola.com | P&J Oyster Co. to halt shucking due to Gulf oil spill “Barring an unforeseen reopening of the oyster beds that supply P&J, Thursday was to be the final day of shucking at the family owned business in the city’s French Quarter. ‘I’m going to try and buy a few shucked oysters from some people in Alabama that are still processing oysters and once they stop, I’m done,’ said Al Sunseri, who along with his brother Sal has run the business that opened in 1876.”

Chances are those life-sustaining businesses are already being wiped out.

June 10, 2010 | Filed under: energy,government,louisiana,new orleans,we are not ok,wtf | No Comments »
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