I want to get one of those "categorical exclusions." I want to disperse some "dispersant" in places where some people don't want it dispersed. I won't tell you what chemicals are in my "dispersant" -- proprietary information. To allay any fears, I can assure you that our main ingredient, corruptionexit, is only moderately harmful to humans. No, it's not fully tested. But, hey, I just tried it out in a similar environment, a rat infested hole, and it worked just fine. We're all still okay. So how about it, Secretary Salazar, Sec. Jackson? You guys gave one, actually many, to BP and it so happens my own initials, using maiden name, are BP!
"...virtually no science that supports the use of those chemicals...''
BP's drilling operation at Deepwater Horizon received a ''categorical exclusion,'' which allows for expedited oil and gas drilling without the detailed environmental review that normally is required.
Many of my diaries, now years ago, were about corruption. I hate corruption!
I'd love to put all those federal employees of OURS, all the ones who gave those "categorical exclusions" to BP under immediate fucking* indictment. There are so many fucking problems with BP and with MMS that it's hard to know where to begin.
MMS. In charge of protecting Americans who pay their salaries, protecting us and our resources and our environment from marauders who would plunder, kill or do whatever they needed to get their greedy hands on treasure miles beneath the sea floor, saying it would be "just fine." I am fucking* sick of people taking advantage of their positions to enrich themselves, to enrich others, to be fucking hypocrites and totally corrupt (sex with those they regulate, cocaine etc.) bureaucrats and officials, giving the good ones a bad name.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THIS:
Because of the leak's extreme depth, and the effects of dispersants, the spill is breaking the maxim that oil floats. Instead, scientists fear it is settling on sensitive corals or poisoning ecosystems that produce shrimp, snapper and sport fish, all too deep for scientists to watch or help.
"This monster's turned invisible," said Plaquemines Parish President William "Billy" Nungesser on Thursday. "How do you fight that monster when it's invisible?"
The spill's impacts on underwater creatures might not be fully understood for years, said Ronald J. Kendall, a professor at Texas Tech University. "It's a massive eco-toxicological experiment underway."
I would love to put uunder arrest any official of my government who takes the corporate oil industry's interests more to heart than those of the people she is supposed to watch over. If, for instance, Lisa Jackson (see below) doesn't know what is harmful then I'd love to just push her out of the way. Because. Plenty of people do know. Even non-scientist bloggers like myself know. And they we need a scientist who knows in charge of protecting us.
If BP does not want to reveal all the chemicals they use, if they want to use chemicals that have not been tested. If they want to use chemicals that are only "moderately" harmful to you and me, they should not be able to do that. Not in these fucking quantities. Shut the fuck up, Lisa.
When laws are broken, laws to protect Mammals, whether in the sea or out of the sea, there need to be consequences. People need to be indicted for crimes.
"...virtually no science that supports the use of those chemicals...'' On order are 800,000+ more gallons.
So far more than 517,000 gallons of dispersants, most of which is a product called Corexit 9500 previously approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use on the sea surface only, have been dropped over the spill or shot undersea.
Corexit 9500 is identified as a ''moderate'' human health hazard that can cause eye, skin or respiratory irritation with prolonged exposure, according to safety data documents.
Louisiana Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said federal regulators dismissed state worries about the chemicals.
''Our concerns about the use of these dispersants underwater is based on the fact that there is virtually no science that supports the use of those chemicals,'' Levine said.
But, folks, don't get worried because Lisa is on the case! Yay, Secretary Jackson! Er.....
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said she reserves the right to halt the use of chemical dispersants at any time if new data show more serious environmental harm is occurring.
When laws are broken, laws to protect Mammals, whether in the sea or out of the sea, there need to be consequences. People need to be indicted for crimes.
Marine mammals, Sec. Jackson. Ever heard of them? You know those happy porpoises that jibber and jabber, the ones you see in movies? Well, they have to take big gulps of air and get that stuff, along with the oil, right inside them. What? You say they were going to die anyway? Food chain. Maybe you've heard of that. Am I being cruel here?
At least our president is starting to do something about all this:
The Obama administration announced Friday that it would review the way the Minerals Management Service routinely waives the need for oil and gas companies to conduct extensive environmental analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act for drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
That National Environmental Policy Act, ignored by the MMS. That Marine Mammals Protection Act, ignored by the MMS.
Displeased about dispersant experiment.
''The EPA is conducting a giant experiment with our most productive fisheries by approving the use of these powerful chemicals on a massive, unprecedented scale,'' John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said in a news release.
The law, enacted after the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969, mandates that federal agencies must complete a thorough environmental assessment before approving any major project, especially one including offshore drilling.
The minerals service short-circuited the process when it granted hundreds of recent drilling permits, according to documents and current and former government officials. The BP well that blew in the gulf last month was granted an exemption from the assessment process because company officials assured regulators that it carried little hazard. Officials went along with the company and granted the permit.
MMS officials
The Minerals Management Service, or M.M.S., also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists.
Those scientists said they were also regularly pressured by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies if they predicted that an accident was likely to occur or if wildlife might be harmed.
Under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Minerals Management Service is required to get permits to allow drilling where it might harm endangered species or marine mammals.
The NYT story above tells about a 2009 letter from NOAA detailing a "pattern" on the part of MMS officials of "understating" risks and consequences of any major gulf spill, while minimizing actual spills. Sounds just like good old Bush administration tactics of giving corporations anything they wanted.
Sound familiar, James Hanson? Pay scientists. Overrule them.
(NOAA) accuses the agency of highlighting the safety of offshore oil drilling operations while overlooking more recent evidence to the contrary. The data used by the agency to justify its approval of drilling operations in the gulf play down the fact that spills have been increasing and understate the "risks and impacts of accidental spills..."
snip
Managers at the agency have routinely overruled staff scientists whose findings highlight the environmental risks of drilling, according to a half-dozen current or former agency scientists.
The gulf is known for its biodiversity. Various endangered species are found in the area where the Deepwater Horizon was drilling, including sperm whales, blue whales and fin whales.
In some instances, the minerals agency has indeed sought and received permits in the gulf to harm certain endangered species like green and loggerhead sea turtles.
But the agency has not received these permits for endangered species like the sperm and humpback whales, which are more common in the areas where drilling occurs and thus are more likely to be affected.
Yes, our fucking MMS agency officials sold us out. For what I wonder?
"M.M.S. has given up any pretense of regulating the offshore oil industry," said Kierán Suckling.
Scientists have been warning of "catastrophic harm to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and its marine environment," if BP was not checked on its Atlantis well. They've been ignored.
Do you believe BP, the oil corp. not me, about the size of the gusher?
My garden hose releases 10 gallons per minute.
That's 600 gallons of water per hour or 14,400 per day.
BP's oil gusher from that huge pipe is only 210,000 per day?
-----
*Hat tip to Fishgrease whose amazing diaries helped me get in touch with my inner fuckster. As explained in a comment to his diary I've used that word not more than a handful of times in my 60+ years. My upbringing made it hard. But I'm reformed. Rage will do that to you. I'm fucking fed up.