Revolution Reporters at Oil Disaster

VERMILION 380: ANOTHER CAPITALIST OIL DISASTER – THIS SYSTEM IS NOT A FIT CARETAKER OF THE EARTH by Larry Everest

2010-09-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 2, New Orleans, Louisiana--This morning the Gulf of Mexico was again assaulted by yet another oil disaster – an oil disaster rooted in capitalism, and one that shows – once again – that this system is not a fit caretaker of the planet.

Around 9:00 am, near Vermilion Bay, some 100 miles off the coast of southwest Louisiana (about 200 miles west of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig), an oil and natural gas production platform run by Mariner Energy of Houston exploded and caught fire. Thankfully no one was killed, and the 13 from the platform were rescued.

There are conflicting reports about whether another oil slick is now fouling the Gulf: the Coast Guard reported an oil sheen 100 feet wide and a mile long. Mariner denied this, claiming the platform had not been in production at the time of the explosion. (The New York Times reports that Mariner has stated that the platform produced some “9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate” during the last week of August.)

In any case, this latest explosion shows that oil disasters like the BP blow-out are not rare “accidents,” the result of one “bad company,” or random events. They are the product of the capitalist system, and its ruthless, profit-above all compulsion to extract massive quantities of fossil fuels whatever the cost to the environment and the people.

Even before the BP oil blow-out was capped there’s been a drumbeat from industry and government to resume oil drilling – to “drill, baby, drill.” It’s proponents claimed that drilling can be done safely – one company – BP – just happened to have one unusual problem at one well. This latest horror shows that under capitalism these claims are lies – that capitalism’s ruthless chase after profit and control of resources means that spills, accidents, disasters, and blow-outs happen all the time. The platform that blew up today has been “the site of at least four accidents — two of them fires — since 2000, according to federal records,” The New York Times reports. And Mariner operates 195 other platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. And this platform is in 340 feet of water – proving shallow-water oil production isn’t safe under this system either.

No doubt more details will be emerging in coming days about the causes and scope of this disaster. But we don’t have to wait days and weeks to understand that capitalism is not a fit caretaker of the planet (see Revolution’s (www.revcom.us) coverage and analysis of the capitalist roots of the BP oil catastrophe, links below).

As Raymond Lotta has written: “Things don't have to be this way. Under a radically different system, the tremendous wealth and technology that exist could and should be a resource shared by all of humanity and used to meet the needs of people everywhere for decent and fulfilling lives and to safeguard the planet we live on. We encourage readers to get into the articles ‘Communism and Ecology: How Revolution Opens the Way for Humanity to Confront the Environmental Crisis and Become Caretakers of the Planet’ and ‘Some Key Principles of Socialist Sustainable Development,’ which are part of the recent special issue of Revolution newspaper on the environment.”

So join us in building – right now -- a movement for all-the-way emancipatory revolution that includes taking up major social battles such as around the environment—while projecting and popularizing our vision of a whole new world. "The Revolution We Need… the Leadership We Have," is a campaign aimed at making big leaps in this revolutionary movement. Everyone concerned and outraged about the state of the world should check this out and find ways to join in.

Revolution #209, August 15, 2010
"Damage Control" and the Real Damage Done Gulf Oil Disaster Is NOT Over
by Orpheus Reed

Revolution #209, July 26, 2010
The Capitalist Oil Catastrophe Is NOT Over People Must Act to Stop It
by Larry Everest

Revolution #201, May 16, 2010
The Oil Spill Disaster… And a System NOT Fit to Be the Planet's Caretakers
Raymond Lotta

Revolution #199, April 18, 2010
Special Issue on the Environment

New video channel on Youtube -- pass it on!

2010-07-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Check out our new video channel here.

Protest of VP Joe Biden's Visit to the Gulf Coast

2010-06-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, June 29, with less than 24 hours notice, a small but determined group braved the rain and stood in front of the New Orleans Unified Command Center to protest Vice President Joe Biden's visit and his tour of the Gulf. A tour which aimed at spreading the lie that the government is doing all it can to stop this disaster. As the motorcade drove up to the command center, protesters were right out in front with banners: "The People Must Act to Stop the Gulf Oil Catastrophe" and "Gulf Oil Disaster: System Not Fit to Be Caretaker of the Planet."

People from nearby stores came out to see what was going on, and applauded the protest as it marched through, flyering the crowd with the Mission Statement and Demands from the Gulf Emergency Summit. The mainstream media walked quickly past the protesters and into the building, showing little interest in even taking a flyer/press release from the group that had gathered. The protest was called for by the Emergency Committee to Stop the Gulf Oil Disaster (www.stopgulfoildisaster.org).

The action flowed from the Committee's mission of facing the catastrophe in all its enormity, recognizing the stakes for the planet, and acting accordingly by mobilizing a society wide battle -- with all hands on deck to fight on all fronts to stop this catastrophe. Much more of this spirit -- and much more active resistance and organizing independent of the government and BP -- is urgently needed.

The demonstration was mentioned in the Times Picuyne and by UPI:

June 23 -- Emergency Committee Disrupts BP-Government Disinformation Meeting Larry Everest

2010-06-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, in New Orleans, the BP-government informational meeting didn't go as planned, thanks to the actions of members of the newly formed Emergency Committee to Stop the Gulf Oil Disaster and others in attendance who have been speaking out about the oil catastrophe.

Since the beginning of this nightmare, BP, and various government agencies -- including the Coast Guard, the EPA, NOAA, and the Dept. of Energy -- have been holding "open houses," or "informational meetings" across the state of Louisiana and beyond, to try and reassure people that they're doing all they can to stop this catastrophe, that they're on top of the situation, that they really want to hear peoples' concerns and give them all the information and help they need. In reality, those attending hear a stream of double-talk, obfuscation, vague promises, and outright lies. These are very deliberate exercises in disinformation and pacification, with BP and the government working together in an attempt to paralyze people, keep the lid on the situation, and maintain their legitimacy. Initially, people in the audience were able to come up to a mike and make statement or ask questions of the assembled officials.

But after scorching condemnations and persistent and revealing grillings at these meetings (like one I attended in Venice, Louisiana several weeks ago), BP and the government have abandoned this format. Now after a few hollow preliminary statements, people are shuffled off individually to various informational tables -- with no time to interrogate these officials in front of everyone and the media.

So tonight, a group of us from the Emergency Committee challenged this whole setup -- some outside handing out our Mission Statement and Demands (and a few of us selling Revolution as well), and some inside. When New Orleans' Mayor Mitch Landrieu introduced the meeting, Elizabeth Cook shouted out "what about fish kills?!" Landrieu claimed we'd get to that. More

June 21 NOLA "UNIFIED COMMAND CENTER" Protest Video

2010-06-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Emergency Summit Organizers Denounce Obama’s Gulf Speech: “Utter Failure to Stop Gulf Oil Catastrophe” – Call for “Broad Peoples’ Response”

2010-06-16T10:57:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Contact: Larry Everest 504-644-7214

Gulfemergencysummit@gmail.com

Organizers of the Gulf Emergency Summit refuted President Obama’s Tuesday night speech:

* "The claim that BP will soon capture 90 percent of the gushing oil is likely yet another in a 59-day string of government and BP deceptions about the magnitude of the blowout and the effectiveness of BP’s "fixes." Just today the size of the gusher was increased to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day – 60 times what BP and the government initially claimed. Some experts warn oil could be pouring into the Gulf for months more." said Emergency Summit organizer Larry Everest.

* “The claim that BP will soon capture 90 percent of the gushing oil is likely yet another in a 55-day string of government and BP deceptions about the magnitude of the blowout and the effectiveness of BP’s ‘fixes.’ Just today the size of the gusher was increased to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day – 60 times what BP and the government initially claimed. Some experts warn that oil could be pouring into the Gulf for months more.”

* “Obama promised to ‘do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover,’ but provided no serious plan for doing so. Instead he continued the pattern of refusing to mobilize all society's resources, creativity, and energy, while stifling or preventing scientists, those affected and others from going all-out to help in stopping the spill, its spread, and recovery efforts.”

* “Obama claimed ‘the federal government has been in charge of the largest environmental cleanup effort in our nation's history,’ yet he refused to provide any accounting of the damage already been done to Gulf ecosystems and wildlife, and refused to acknowledge the reality that this ‘cleanup effort’ has failed miserably to protect the Gulf, the shores, wetlands, or wildlife.”

* “Obama's promises of ‘clean energy’ and getting off fossil fuels are hollow and do nothing to stop the mounting catastrophe in the Gulf, which is still out of control.”

* "President Barack Obama’s Gulf speech exposed – yet again – the government and BP’s utter failure and unwillingness, despite their rhetoric, to stop the oil catastrophe, protect Gulf ecosystems, wildlife, and people – or even tell the truth," stated Everest. "This underscores the urgency of a broad, determined, and powerful peoples’ response to get the truth out, to protect the shores and oceans and to deal with the ecological impacts."

"The world is watching," Summit organizers write. "We must not allow the Gulf and oceans to be devastated. Our mission is nothing less than stopping this catastrophe."

The Summit is:

Saturday June 19, 2010 10:00 am

First Unitarian Universalist Church

5212 South Claiborne Avenue New Orleans LA

Draft Demands:

1) Stop oil drilling in the Gulf

2) The government and entire oil industry must allocate all necessary resources to stop the spill and clean up the devastation. Full support, including by compensation, must be given to efforts by people to save the Gulf.

3) No punishment to those taking independent initiative; no gag orders on people hired, contracted, or who volunteer.

4) Full mobilization of scientists and engineers. Release scientific and technical data to the public; no more lying and covering up. Full and open scientific evaluation of emergency measures like the use of dispersants. Fund all necessary scientific and medical research.

5) Full compensation for all losing livelihood and income from the disaster.

6) Provide necessary medical services to those suffering health effects of the spill. Protect the health of and provide necessary equipment for everyone involved in clean up operations. Full disclosure of medical and scientific studies about the effects of the oil disaster.

New Orleans Summit to Demand “Stop the Oil Catastrophe”

2010-06-14T23:48:00.000-07:00

14 June 2010

Contact: Larry Everest 504-644-7214
Gulfemergencysummit@gmail.com

While Barack Obama was visiting Gulfport Mississippi today, Larry Everest and Tracy Stern, organizers for the coming Emergency Summit to Stop the Gulf Oil Catastrophe, demonstrated along his motorcade route, with the message: The People Must Act to Stop the Gulf Oil Catastrophe -- www.gulfemergencysummit.org, and Gulf Oil Disaster -- System Not Fit to Be Caretaker of the Earth.

The call to the Summit states:

"The government and BP have proven unable and unwilling to stop the disaster, protect the Gulf, or even tell the truth....BP and the government – pursuing their own interests - have ignored people's ideas, blocked public participation, suppressed and harassed scientists, and prevented people on the Gulf from taking initiative to keep oil away from shore."

Writer Larry Everest said, “Despite Obama's promises today of re-inventing ‘clean energy’ and such a spill never happening again, he’s not doing what must be done immediately: stop drilling in the Gulf, run an all-out clean-up, mobilize the scientific community, compensate people for loss of their livelihood and damage to the environment, and pay medical expenses of people harmed. Obama is not protecting the environment or the people. Obama is protecting capitalism and the U.S. empire which means there will never be a green economy, but there will be many more environmental catastrophes.”

Summit organizers are calling for "A broad, determined, and powerful peoples’ response" to "get the truth out, to protect the shores and oceans and deal with the ecological impacts, while exploring deeper causes and solutions."

The Summit is:

Saturday, June 19, 2010 10:00 am
First Unitarian Universalist Church
5212 South Claiborne Avenue New Orleans LA

Obama and the BP Oil Catastrophe: GUILTY

2010-06-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Gulf of Mexico oil disaster is like a murder in progress. Birds caked in oil, waiting to die…all kinds of species, big and small, being poisoned and killed… wetland grasses, the heart of the coastal ecosystems soaking in oil and withering away…the lives of fishermen ruined.

Millions of people are anguished and furious at the prospects of many more months of millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf, of the government’s continuing failure to protect the fragile shore lands, and even more devastation to all kinds of marine life and birds. Some people hope Obama and the U.S. government will somehow come to the rescue and do the right thing. But the Obama government is directly and criminally culpable in this disaster:

The People Must Act to Stop The Oil Catastrophe

2010-06-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

Revolutionaries Are Going to the Gulf

Your Support Is Needed

For over 45 days, people have watched with horror as the oil spill in the Gulf has turned into an environmental catastrophe. And people have watched the government and BP repeatedly prove themselves unwilling and unable to truly deal with this crisis. These are crimes against the planet and humanity. The people must act boldly and creatively to stop this catastrophe. We are sending teams onto the scene. And we are asking for your support.

The Revolutionary Communist Party is reaching out broadly—to youth, to environmental activists, to scientists and engineers, and to working people on the ground. Our aim is to help inspire and rally people to do everything possible to save the environment and ecosystems of the region and beyond. And in this crisis situation, we will be spreading the understanding that this is a “capitalist oil spill,” but that there is a way out. We are building a movement for revolution. We can get rid of capitalism and bring about a liberating society and economy that can enable humanity to be the caretakers of the planet.

THE PEOPLE MUST ACT: COME TO NEW ORLEANS. STOP THE OIL CATASTROPHE

2010-06-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

A monumental crime against the planet and humanity is unfolding before our eyes. Toxic oil and gas continue to spew in the Gulf of Mexico—and the government and BP have proven unable and unwilling to truly deal with this rapidly escalating environmental, wildlife, and human catastrophe.

Millions are outraged. But many feel powerless and don't know what to do. People are looking for ways to act, to fight.

We have a bold vision and big plans to rally people to stop this catastrophe, protect the environment, and to spread revolution. We call on all who are sick at heart and feel the urgency of the crisis to join these efforts. And we call on all those who see the importance of these efforts to donate generously—funds are urgently needed.

Read entire article

Revolution newspaper new articles on oil-spill, wetlands & ecosystem facing disaster

2010-05-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here are our new articles, just posted up on revcom.us

Ecosystem Facing Disaster, A System Not Fit to Be Caretaker of the Earth

by Orpheus Reed and Larry Everest

When you stick your finger into one of the orange-brown or black, asphalt-smelling globs of oil now washing into the wetlands where the Mississippi Delta meets the Gulf of Mexico, it just gloms on and sticks. It's hard to get off. You see it stuck to the stalks of the roso-cane reeds, which hold the wetlands in place. Then you start thinking about what happens when a fish, a bird, or some other creature gets caught in this toxic stew. And you think about how these pools are only the first, small waves of oil from the exploded wellhead of British Petroleum's "Deepwater Horizon." And you just can't take it.

Read on…

The Oil Spill's Threat to the Gulf Wetlands
by Orpheus Reed
Special Issue on the Environment: revcom.us/environment

Photos from our Boat Trip to See Oil Impact on Pass a Loutre- Mississippi River Delta

2010-05-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

oil soaking marshland cane grass

blotches of oil on water by marsh grass

shrimp boat now acting as oil skimmer, covered in oil

Scientists speak out to Expose Government Failures and Suppression of Science in Gulf Oil Spill

2010-05-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Orpheus Reed

Scientists are speaking out to criticize and condemn the Obama administration’s failure to conduct and make public the needed scientific analyses of the scope of the gulf oil disaster and to cover-up the true dimensions of the problem. A 5.19.10 article in the New York Times says “the scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other agencies have been slow to organize necessary scientific expeditions, especially to get a better handle on problems that may be occurring from large plumes of oil droplets that appear to be spreading beneath the ocean surface.” The scientists pointed out according to the Times, “the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean.”

Rick Steiner- a Marine biologist from Alaska who is a veteran of the Exxon Valdez oil spill told the NY Times that NOAA had been derelict in analyzing conditions under the surface in the Gulf. Steiner said the danger of the oil plumes discovered by scientists aboard the MV Pelican should have been anticipated from the start of the spill and that a proper sampling program to map and characterize the plumes was needed but was not and is not being done. On May 18^th, NOAA head Jane Lubchenco attacked the scientists who discovered the plumes and their findings claiming, their reports were “misleading, premature and, in some cases, inaccurate.”

On May 19th, oceanographer Ian MacDonald from Florida State University, who has been speaking out to counter BP and the government’s underestimation of the size and rate of flow of the spill, spoke out to expose Lubchenco’s statements.

He said, “The scientific community in the Gulf of Mexico is fairly small ... and we've been very dedicated for a long time and not only is nobody listening to us in this, but it seems like they really want us to shut up…..It's very, very punitive and anybody who is doing this is getting attacked by NOAA.”

Steiner said, “A vast ecosystem is being exposed to contaminants right now, and nobody’s watching it... that seems like a catastrophic failure on the part of NOAA. “

Sylvia Earle, renowned oceanographer, former chief scientist for NOAA, and now Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society, testified May 19th before a congressional committee hearing in Washington on the oil spill. Beginning her testimony by saying she “had come to speak for the ocean”, Earle enumerated the many ways in which the Gulf and the earth’s environment as a whole are being degraded by human activities- pollution, over fishing, global warming and acidification, and called for protection of the oceans. She outlined the rich ecosystems in the Gulf and their tremendous value, and the tremendous threats from the oil spill. Earle spoke powerfully about how human existence depends on healthy oceans.

Criticizing the government response to the oil spill disaster Earle asked "How can we not know how much oil is being released? We are dealing from the surface with what is largely a subsea problem."

Earle also called for the immediate cessation to the use of chemical dispersants under the surface in the ocean and only limited use in critical areas where coastal habitat was threatened. In her testimony she said, “The instructions for humans using Corexit, the dispersant approved by the EPA to make the ocean look better warn that it is an eye and skin irritant, is harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed, and may cause injury to red blood cells, kidney or the liver. People are warned not to take Corexit internally, but the fish, turtles, copepods and jellies have no choice. They are awash in a lethal brew of oil and butoxyethanol."

Earle made 10 proposals for immediate action, including an immediate deployment of subsurface technologies and sensors "to evaluate the fate of the underwater plumes of oil, as well as the finely dispersed oil and chemicals and their impact on floating surface forests of Sargassum communities, life in the water column, and on the sea floor."

To read Earle’s entire testimony, http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/05/cheap-oil-is-costing-us-the-earth.html

glimpses of Louisiana

2010-05-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Louisiana’s Wetlands and What’s At Stake in the Oil Catastrophe

2010-05-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

5/17/10
Orpheus Reed

Waves of rain and thunder storms rolled through New Orleans yesterday and the day before. The thick moist air and gathering heat finally burst loose and rain poured from the skies, making the air feel cleaner and cooler.

Out in the Gulf, not many miles away, the oil continues to pour out and build and threaten disaster. A friend from here who we protested with on Friday at the Federal Building, told us that her sense--from seeing the anger from fishermen at a BP sponsored meeting in St. Bernard Parish and from the continuing exposure of the government role and lying--that outrage is beginning to build among people here.

A Rich Gulf Ecosystem In Grave Danger

What is at stake here in this oil spill that capitalism has generated? What is happening and will happen more in ways we can see, ways we can’t see, and in ways that will manifest for years and decades to come? The threat to ecosystems in this area is multi-leveled and multi-layered. What is shaping up is truly an almost immeasurable crime.

The ecosystems of the Gulf are varied, rich, and multi-faceted–truly a wonder of the natural world. They also form the basis for the lives, culture, and existence for many millions of people in this region and beyond.

I don’t pretend to understand the natural ecosystems here in any great depth yet, but I am learning and want to try to convey some sense of this.

To get a taste of it, earlier in the week Larry Everest and I took a trip down to the tip of the Mississippi River Delta to Venice, the southernmost point in Louisiana. We interviewed Capt. Dave Ballay, head of a sport fishing charter boat captains group in the region. And we got a tour of the Delta’s fresh and salt water wetlands from his son, Brent Ballay, who has been captain of fishing charters for 18 years. Dave told us about how the wetlands in this area were created over millennia by floods from the Mississippi river, depositing sediments, creating a delta region of half a million acres.

At least 40% of the country’s wetlands are in Louisiana. These are interwoven ecosystems of fresh water bayous, bays, channels and marshlands. Areas where there is a mixing of salt water from the Gulf with river water (the combination is called “brackish” water) in channels, bays and estuaries, and then salt water estuaries, and then the various marine ecosystems of the open Gulf. In the wetlands near shore, there is a back and forth between the salt and fresh water with tide flow, currents and flow from the river. Beautiful and amazingly rich diversity of fish, birds, reptiles and mammals move back and forth in the environments they survive best in.

Driving into Venice, Larry and I were awed by the many wetland birds, some feeding right next to the road. We hopped out to get pictures of snowy egrets with their tufted crests, gathered here and there in bunches at water’s edge.

On our boat trip we traveled west from Venice, out through Red Pass in the Mississippi, and then moved into smaller channels that criss-cross each other throughout this areas, and then out into more open bays – 6 miles out all told. Brent pointed out areas that used to be land, but now are submerged by sea water due to the loss of land because the river is now confined and no longer building up new wetlands from over-spilling its banks and depositing new sediments. Channels have been dredged to open the area up for shipping and extraction and transport of oil. This is also contributing to the loss of wetlands, as they settle and disappear beneath the sea water. Katrina and other hurricanes have taken their toll. Another increasing cause of wetland disappearance, I am quite sure, is sea level rise due to melting of the ice caps from global warming.

According to an article in National Geographic in 2004, “since 1930 1,900 square miles of coastal wetlands—a swath nearly the size of Delaware—have vanished beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Despite nearly half a billion dollars spent over the past decade to stem the tide, the state continues to lose about 25 square miles of land each year, roughly one acre every 33 minutes.” These wetlands are not only extremely bio diverse, they also form a natural barrier protecting the Gulf coast, including New Orleans, from hurricane winds and storm surges. So their disappearance is one reason Katrina was so devastating.

Brent showed us the channels where he catches bass in fresh water, the areas where redfish live, and further out where speckled trout can be found. In the fresh and brackish water areas, marshland sediments are held together by a plant the fishermen call “roso-cane”-- a tall reed-like plant some 8 feet high or more -- that grows thick so you can’t push through it. In the salt water areas, sea grass predominates. These planets “cement” the marshland sediments and hold them together. Without them the wetlands disappear and, as Brent put it, “the Gulf would be at our doorstep.” And in the sediments algae and other microorganisms live that, along with the grasses, form the base of these ecosystems.

These marshlands also have many other plants, cypress trees, a tree the fisherman called hackberry, flowering plants of orange and purple, thistles, and beautiful white spider plants. And throughout, these wetlands are filled with incredible bird life, which we busily try to capture on film: snowy egrets, herons, red-winged blackbirds and other, ibis with their prominent long beaks of orange and brown, gulls and terns, brown pelicans sitting on old pilings and occasionally taking to flight. One of my personal favorites was the huge man o war (magnificent frigate birds) soaring in the wind over us with 7 foot wing span and occasionally sailing down to grab fish off the water. These birds have been recorded in flight for 4 days at a time. In one fresh water channel, we came across a small alligator, who we were able to get some snapshots of as he swam after a brightly colored float Brent cast out to attract his attention.

These bays and estuaries are also home to oysters, crabs and other crustaceans.
Many of the larger species, including juvenile fish, worms, crabs and other crustaceans depend on the microalgae that live in the sediments to survive. It’s been estimated 97% of all the marine species in the Gulf depend on the estuaries at some point in their life cycles. So there is a close dependence and back and forth between life in the ocean and coastal wetlands.

Imagine these wetlands filled with oil. Scientists say the grasses are pretty resilient and if just their leaves or stems are coated, they can put out new shoots. But if the oil covers and penetrates to their roots, they die and the sediments supporting this whole ecosystem can begin to be washed away. If the oil kills the algae, the food is gone for many other organisms. If some of these organisms are poisoned and die off, the algae can grow all out of control. Oil in these marshes will cause untold death to many of these wonderful species, and could cause devastation to the whole ecosystem. The oil could last for decades, mixed into the mud. The thought of all this sickening.

And the effect in the wetlands, which largely have still not been hit, as awful as it is, may not even be the worst of it.

Because this oil is coming out 5,000 feet below the ocean and also being hit with chemical dispersants (that are themselves environmentally toxic though no one is quite sure what’s in them as their components are also a guarded “proprietary” secret), the oil is “emulsified” (mixed with water). So it is spread throughout the water column--often in gooey “mousse-like” globs. It’s not all on the surface, in fact most of it is not. Much is under the surface. I’ve seen video of flyovers of the Gulf that show vast regions of red or rusty oil swaths, from the surface down. One report said, “the Gulf looks like its bleeding”.

The fact that much—probably most--of this oil is under the surface means first of all that it may be moving all over the Gulf, even into the Loop Current which can take it throughout the Gulf, onto the shores of Florida, and up the Atlantic coast. No one can see this underwater movement.

Doug Rader, a coastal ecologist with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) explains some of what is happening right now to marine life as a result of this undersea geyser of oil.

“Several things are happening. Creatures caught directly in the spill zone, especially those that live on or near the surface of the water, are directly affected. Most visible are the seabirds, sea turtles, and–potentially–the marine mammals. Less visible, but equally concerning, are the countless millions of tiny, planktonic organisms being killed, including larvae of economically important species like fish, shrimp and crabs.”

Also threatened are sea birds like petrels and shearwaters which preen their feathers to maintain their waterproofing and warmth. They can die by ingesting oil this way. Marine mammals and sea turtles face being poisoned from inhaling toxic fumes or eating other organisms contaminated with oil.

Rader says that many other deep water species--including endangered sharks and very rich and unique coral reef systems lie either directly in the vicinity of the spill or closely down current. Life at the bottom of the sea, where oil globules formed in contact with chemical dispersants are falling, may also be affected by this spill.

Stacy Small, a Ph. D. biologist on staff with EDF says,

“The spill could not have come at a worse time. It is now nesting season for many species, such as shorebirds and Brown Pelicans–and for sea turtles that lay their eggs in beach sand. It's also the peak of spring bird migration. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports thousands of pairs of nesting Brown Pelicans, Royal Terns, Caspian Terns, and shorebirds right now on Breton Island National Wildlife Refuge, a 5,000 acre wilderness area on Breton Island and the Chandeleur Islands. Migratory birds are gathering along the Gulf Coast, as well as manatees and gulf sturgeon. Highly endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles are migrating along the Louisiana coast on their way to nesting beaches in Texas and Mexico.”

“As many as 20 coastal wildlife refuges could be in harm's way, as well as pristine beaches and state wildlife areas. If this oil makes its way to Florida, the state's precious coral reefs also could be threatened.”

This is all horribly saddening and also enraging. And should fuel us to both take the level of opposition and resistance to this spill and the system that caused it to another level, and to widely bring people to see how this whole system is responsible, and that we can do much, much better--and that we have a plan and the leadership to have this kind of world.

Snapshots from the Louisiana Wetlands

2010-05-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

We hooked up with sport fishing captains in Venice harbor at the tip of the Mississippi Delta this weekend and they showed us the rich life of the wetlands.We took pictures to document and portray this ecosystem, now threatened from the oil spill.

May 15 -- “Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Under the Gulf”

2010-05-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Orpheus Reed

The New York Times this evening is reporting scientist who have been out on the Gulf on the research vessel Pelican, have been finding “giant plumes of oil forming under the gulf” in deep water from 2300 to 4200 feet (which is almost to the sea floor) . Some of these plumes are of tremendous size- one was “10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots.”

Samantha Joye, a scientist from the University of Georgia was quoted in the Times saying, “There’s a shocking amount of oil in the deep water, relative to what you see in the surface water,” “There’s a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column.”

The article says that scientists are very worried the plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in Gulf water, and it this could cause oxygen levels to fall to the point where aquatic life in these areas is killed off. Dr. Joye said the mission had found that near some of the plumes, oxygen had already dropped 30%”

“If you keep those kinds of rates up, you could draw the oxygen down to very low levels that are dangerous to animals in a couple of months,” she said Saturday. “That is alarming.” There is real concern, that these plumes can create large dead zones in the Gulf, which is already plagued by dead zones (zones where no life exists) at certain times of year.

This finding is extremely worrisome, and points to the likelihood that the deep water affects of this spill, including the use of chemical dispersants, are far greater than officially acknowledged and could well be already having potentially catastrophic impacts on marine life, even if it the pool of oil is still mainly off shore.

May 13, 2010 Dispatch from the Gulf- People on Edge, Amazing Ecosystems Face Impending Disaster

2010-05-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Orpheus Reed

My Revolution colleague Larry Everest and I are just beginning to dive into the story and get our hands and minds around the scope and picture of what is taking place down here.

The Hearing

We jumped in by seizing an important moment to protest a hearing organized by the Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service (MMS) to begin the first official “investigation” of the causes of the explosion at the deepwater Horizon drilling rig. We were determined to make known that it isn’t just BP or some bad government officials or particular agencies, but that it is the whole capitalist system itself that is the driving force behind this disaster and is not fit to be caretaker of this planet. And that it is outrageous and completely illegitimate for organizations who are key components of this system and intimately involved with allowing and creating this situation (MMS and the Obama administration) to investigate their own criminality. And to clearly put out the message that we must resist this crime on the planet and that things don’t have to be this way- we can have a whole different system and we are building a revolutionary movement for that. (See, May 14, 2010 post, “Oil Spill: This system not fit to be Caretakers of the Planet” which was our press release, sent to media across the country.)

The People

We are getting a beginning sense of how people are feeling about the oil disaster down here. The shadow of Katrina and everything the system did to people is palpable. We drove across the Danziger Bridge and a friend with us told us about what had happened here right after the storm. New Orleans police assassinated and wounded unarmed Black people who were walking across the bridge without any provocation, and then lied to cover it up-such stories are all around us.

We’ve hearing some from people about their stories-what they’ve already been through with Katrina- on the coast and in the city of New Orleans. Two women who work cleaning temporary housing told us how Katrina leveled the fishing harbor and boats of Venice on the Gulf coast at the end of the Mississippi river Delta, and covered the delta where people lived with water. One, who was 62 years old, said she had come back anyway. She has been through 3 hurricanes now- Camille, Betsy and Katrina, but she is extremely worried about this oil disaster and what it will mean. Almost all the fishing is shut down in this part of Louisiana-both commercial fishing and sport charter fishing. So the fishermen have mostly lost their livelihoods- while some are being hired by BP to go out and lay boom to hold back the oil. Some of them are worried about what they say, for fear BP will fire them.

The woman I mentioned cleans the trailers where usually the sport fishermen who come down to go out on boats stay- now partly occupied with oil spill clean-up workers and some media. But with the fishermen gone and the threat of devastation to all the fish, shrimp, crabs, oysters, etc.- (which provide a resource that people live on but also are a central part of the culture down here), she doesn’t know what the future will hold. People are worried for themselves and for others, about losing their livelihoods. Some have told us about how they’ve been reading about the Exxon Valdez spill and Alaska, and how it ruined the environment and the fishermen, and fucked up their lives as well. How people went into debt, lost their boats, many couldn’t survive, or had to leave. Some turned to alcohol, got divorced. Then when Exxon finally paid out some money after 20 years, the money that sounded like a lot didn’t even cover their debts.

Two people who we know who live near the Treme section of town (featured on the HBO show) told us how they stayed during Katrina, They were repeatedly threatened by the police and national Guard that they better get out or else. New Orleans became a ghost town, and then people fought to be able to come back. People searched to find loved ones, fought to open up the projects that the system refused to open despite the fact they weren’t badly damaged so they could ethnically cleanse New Orleans of Black people and poor people. They said people are still traumatized from everything they went through in Katrina and there is a big shortage even of mental health workers now since the storm. And now this oil spill. What can we do? We talked about the importance of people coming together, fighting to make a social force of the demands we advanced in our press statement, digging into and spreading the understanding of how this spill is the latest concentration of wholesale destruction of the planet by this system and we face an environmental emergency that has things going to a horrible place. But things don’t have to be this way-there’s this Party and it’s leader Bob Avakian, and we’re building a movement for revolution and people should become part of this. They are calling a protest this week which we’re joining, and where we’ll get out the article in Revolution 201 and the special environmental issue.

Yesterday we drove down to the little fishing village/marina of Venice. It’s about 70 miles south of New Orleans where we’re staying, at the tip of the Mississippi River Delta, the furthest point south on the Louisiana coast. I had been reading about the rich and incredible wetland and estuary ecosystems here- home to hundreds of species, birds, oysters, crabs, fishes, plants and grasses that are the base of the marshlands, etc, etc. But to actually see this in a beginning way-even from the road, was amazing. At a certain point at the end of the delta, the road narrows so land is only the width of the road and on both sides there is marshland waters-islands of trees and grasses, and birds of every kind. We jumped out of the car to take pictures of white egrets right next to the road, of terns soaring overhead, herons and many other species we could not identify. To think that Louisiana has 40% of the wetlands in the U.S., and that now all of this is threatened because of this spill, and because capitalism does not and cannot see all of this as anything but external and of no real concern-is truly horrifying and enraging.

Amidst this natural wonder sit a huge natural gas plant. Further up the road toward NOLA you pass monstrous oil refineries for Chevron and Conoco Phillips. Along with BP and others out there in the Gulf these huge enterprises have turned the waters into a laboratory for mining of new deepwater oil reserves- with no means and no plans, and no concern-for the annihilation they’ve now unleashed.

They’ve been aided and abetted by the whole government that approved their projects and now wants to expand this catastrophe of offshore drilling more massively, repeatedly allowed them to police themselves, refused to enforce needed safety standards and is driven to compete for strategic control of these new oil reserves in competition with other imperialist powers. Green and capitalism are an oxymoron and to see what’s on the line now as a result- the destruction of species, ecosystems and people’s lives- sickens me. Tomorrow we will get a chance to go out on a boat into the wetlands to document these beautiful places before this spill has largely hit, and we’re looking very much forward to this.

We met some journalism students from University of North Carolina at a bar and grill in Venice. They said they are part of a project on “energy and employment” and told us about some of their experiences observing what is happening. They had been to a training BP was doing with Vietnamese fishermen to lay boom for the spill. They said BP had literally just found someone off the street who spoke Vietnamese, without any knowledge of being able to explain the technical concepts the fishermen would need to understand, so the information couldn’t be conveyed. BP ended up just doing the training in English, which the fishermen didn’t understand very well. So here these fishermen are being sent out into this toxic stew without the kind of training and understanding they need to deal with it. (See Larry’s May 11 post for their reaction to our protest at the hearing.)

Ecosystem Impacts

We’re starting to report on these things and also to get hold of scientists about the impacts of the spill-what is already happening and very importantly, what will happen. But already there have been some important reports on the nature of the oil and spill and where it’s affecting things. Today on Democracy Now, Rick Steiner- a marine conservation specialist from Alaska who has just been in the Gulf talked about how this oil spill is different from the Exxon Valdez. It’s coming out 5,000 feet below the surface and it’s getting emulsified (mixed up with water). It’s also getting hit with these chemical dispersants that are supposed to break up the oil but two things. First, they are also toxic to the environment themselves, and secondly-this is causing the oil (along with the water mixing) to be deeper in the water column and to extend down from the surface. All this oil isn’t sitting on top so it is harder to skim or burn (which also has big problems in terms of people’s health and the environment), and so many of the impacts are likely to be down deeper in the “water column”.

Another consequence, the oil mixed with water can wash under the booms that are being placed to protect coastline, deltas, wetlands and barrier islands-but these are only effective against oil sitting on the surface. This emulsified oil can go right under the booms and there is real potential for it to penetrate deeply into the wetlands. The degree to which this has already happened isn’t entirely clear and something we want to try to find out. Mainly it hasn’t had a big impact yet, but the threat is impending.

Steiner told Democracy Now, “There’s no way to restore a spill-injured ecosystem. There’s really no way to rehabilitate oiled wildlife successfully, and there’s very little way to adequately compensate human communities whose lives have been turned upside down by these kinds of things. So it’s all bad. There’s no good.”

“…There’s a lot of very precious, very unusual marine habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. There’s some deepwater coral reefs up on the—as you start going up the continental shelf. And then there’s these cold seeps where methane, this natural gas, just percolates out of the seabed and forms these really rich, unusual biological communities, extremely productive, that live just simply off the methane coming out of the seabed, and a number of endemic species that are found nowhere else. And I think, because a lot of this oil is entrained in the deepwater masses, likely, that some of these very productive special habitats will be hit. And we need to take a good look at that.”

He also brought out that Obama’s bid to expand oil drilling includes the Arctic-where such as spill would be basically impossible to combat and have disastrous effects.

The Coast Guard reported today they have already found 18 birds, 87 sea turtles and six dolphins dead along the Gulf Coast, and I don’t think they are even searching for them. They say they “can’t confirm” whether they were killed by the spill-but this spill is undoubtedly causing havoc with sea life- dolphins and turtles have been seen swimming in this muck.

And the oil keeps pouring out, in fact, an article in the New York Times this evening quotes scientists who are arguing the flow rate from the ruptured pipes (a video BP tried to prevent from being released based on “proprietary interests- showing again the way the rules of capital are a barrier to the needs of the environment and understanding reality of this spill) is much higher even then the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has estimated.

Two other interesting short reports- from Jeremy Symons of the National Wildlife Federation. He recently was out on a boat in the Gulf touring the oil spill areas. He also talks about the nature of this particular spill and some potential impacts.

Also see this NWF rundown of the impacts this spill is likely to have on diverse wildlife and ecosystems.

More to come.

May 11 - Reporter's Notebook

2010-05-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

Larry Everest

Sunday, May 9. When you cross the state line driving into Louisiana from Texas, the first thing you see is a sign "Welcome to Louisiana, America’s Wetland." Then looking out the window you begin to see what they mean —rolling out before you all the ecological richness (you pass a sign that advertises "Hold a Baby Alligator") and natural beauty that’s under assault from the system’s massive oil spill/blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

This blowout began on April 20 when an explosion destroyed the "Deepwater Horizon" drilling platform operated by British Petroleum some 50 miles off the state’s southeast coast. Since then, an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil and natural gas (and perhaps much more) have been spewing out with no certain end in sight. On May 13, BP was forced to release a 30-second video of oil and natural gas gushing out of its wellhead on the Gulf’s floor, 5,000 feet beneath the surface-- something it had refused to reveal for almost a month.

Driving on Highway 10, which is miles from Louisiana’s Gulf coastline, you pass fields, meadows, inlets, swampland, lakes, rivers, and wetlands – all lush with vegetation, in many shapes, sizes and varieties and all manner of green. My Revolution colleague on this trip – Orpheus Reed – tells me the view from the air is also breathtaking. In our next dispatches we’ll report on Louisiana’s coastal wetlands up close.

This was my first glimpse of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – and it made me sick at heart thinking about the far-reaching ecological impacts already to air, wetlands, coastlines, the deep Gulf and perhaps the Atlantic Ocean… and the potentially unimaginable catastrophe that threatens if the oil flow isn’t stopped very soon. More layers of sickness and outrage when you ponder that what’s happening in the Gulf is not simply a Louisiana, or a Gulf Coast issue – although it’s certainly that. It potentially threatens a huge swath of the planet’s ecosystem—one more gruesome chapter in the capitalist-imperialist system’s criminal assault on the globe. Truly a global environmental emergency we all face.

Tuesday, May 11. When we heard that the Interior Department’s Mineral Management Services (MMS) and the U.S. Coastguard were convening "public" hearings to open the first official investigation of the Deepwater Horizon Project explosion, we knew we had to be there from the jump to condemn this illegitimate charade, to churn up much needed resistance and action outside the rulers’ framework, expose the systemic roots of this crime, and bring the revolution out onto the wires.

In every way and on every level, this hearing and investigation were part of and mirrored the system responsible for this crime in the first place. The hearing was held at the Radisson Hotel near New Orleans’ airport -- well away from where the masses of people and those most directly affected live (so far). And the location had been changed the night before. At this “public” hearing, the public was not allowed to speak, ask questions, or hand out statements.

It was presided over by the very agency -- MMS -- that approved the Deep Water Horizon and had repeatedly allowed BP and other oil companies to bypass even the very limited safety standards and environmental reviews that currently exist.

MSS operates as one cog in the overall machinery of the capitalist state which has fully backed the aggressive expansion of oil and natural gas exploration and drilling. Besides expanding the very risky off-shore drilling operations, invading Afghanistan and Iraq and threatening Iran… all part of seizing deeper control of global energy resources to ensure the functioning and strategic position of U.S. capital. (see “The Oil Spill Disaster… And a System NOT Fit to Be the Planet's Caretakers,” Revolution #201)

8:00am--The hearings were about to begin, a dozen uniformed Coast Guard personnel keeping watch around the room. I stood up, unfurled a bright yellow banner reading “Gulf Oil Spill: System Not Fit To Be Caretaker of the Planet.” I condemned the hearings as illegitimate -- the very system and agencies which created this disaster were now in charge of “investigating” it. As I was hustled out of the room shouting “we need a whole new system,” another Revolution colleague jumped up with a banner, “Stop All Offshore Drilling!” while denouncing the illegitimacy of the hearings.

We were escorted out and told by the hotel security (a guy wearing a “Blackhawk” security shirt and packing what looked like a .45 automatic) that we’d be arrested for criminal trespassing if we ever came back to the hotel – public hearing or no. This too was an integral part of the system’s “investigative” process. From what we have learned so far, anger, uncertainty, and fear run deep among people down here, especially in the wake of Katrina whose impact continues to haunt people. And the rulers are working hard to both reassure people that they’re doing all they can to deal with the situation - while keeping a tight lid on.

The action did crack into the media – pictures and coverage made the New Orleans Times-Picayune and other local papers and TV, as well as the national press including AP and UPI. Mike Malloy mentioned it favorably on his radio show, including reporting our main slogan. An early version of the New York Times coverage of the hearing identified the “protesters” as being from “Revolution Newspaper.” This episode was excised in later versions of the story, but it did get out. A friend told me that while she was at work, a co-worker said her husband – apparently glad someone was doing some kind of protest – emailed her the Times online coverage. Friends we heard from in New Orleans and around the country were moved by the action.

The next day when we traveled to Venice – a city some 80 miles from New Orleans on the southernmost tip of Louisiana and close to the oil spill. We met three students from the University of North Carolina who were there doing a project on the employment impact of the oil spill. One mentioned that she’d seen Revolution before; she and her friends were at the hearing the day before and had heard me say I was from Revolution, so she’d immediately googled the newspaper. They were interested reading the special Revolution issue on the environment (“State of Emergency: The Plunder of our Planet, The Environmental Catastrophe and the Real Revolutionary Solution,” ) and paid careful attention to our description of Bob Avakian’s re-envisioned revolution and communism, and to the suggestion she check out www.revolutiontalk.net. As for the action…she really liked it. “You made people think outside the box.”

In coming days we’ll be reporting on what we’re learning on-site about the causes of this catastrophe, its devastating environmental impacts including on the people here, how various sections of the people are thinking about it, and the shoots of resistance and independent activity, including volunteer efforts. And we’ll be distributing and discussing the Revolution special issue, and the movement for revolution we are part of building.

Links to some of the coverage of the protest:

UPI

Times Picayune:

WLTXdotcom

earthtimesdotorg

2010-05-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Oil Spill: This system not fit to be Caretakers of the Planet

Larry Everest and Orpheus are reporting from the site of the massive oil disaster – a capitalist disaster. This is their blog which they will be updating with reports, pictures, and video. Funds are urgently needed to cover their expenses and can be donated online at revolutionbooks.org.

Orpheus writes on issues of the environment and the antiglobalization movement and contributed to "State of Emergency! The Plunder Of Our Planet, The Environmental Catastrophe and The Real Revolutionary Solution.”

Larry Everest is a Revolution correspondent, and author of Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda, and Behind the Poison Cloud: Union Carbide’s Bhopal Massacre. The National Academy of Engineering drew on the book’s "Design for Disaster" chapter at their 2002 Annual Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering.

Contact email: revolutionreporters@gmail.com

From May 11, 2010

Oil Spill Disaster:
Revolution Reporters Condemn and Protest Illegitimate Deepwater Horizon Project Investigation Hearing

This System is NOT Fit to Be the Planet's Caretakers...Minerals Management Service Is Not Fit to Investigate Catastrophe It Helped Create!

Today, the Coast Guard and Interior Department’s Mineral Management Service convened the first public hearings in New Orleans on the causes of the Deepwater Horizon Project explosion that has flooded the Gulf of Mexico with oil, threatening an unparalleled environmental catastrophe. MMS has repeatedly allowed BP to bypass safety standards and avoid environmental reviews, contributing to a criminal destruction of species and ecosystems in the Gulf.

As the hearings commenced, Revolution newspaper reporter Larry Everest stood up, holding a banner reading “Gulf Oil Spill: System Not Fit To Be Caretaker of the Planet” and condemned the fact that the public wasn’t even allowed to speak at this “public” hearing and the illegitimacy of MMS being in charge of investigating a disaster they helped create. Another Revolution colleague unfurled a banner saying- “Stop All Offshore Drilling” and also spoke out against the hearings. Both were prevented from finishing their statements and quickly herded out of the room by Coast Guard officials and Radisson hotel security. ecurity then threatened that if they returned to pass out flyers at this “public” hearing, they would be subject to arrest for criminal trespassing.

MMS exempted BP from environmental restrictions and went along with BP’s lie that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur,” and that “no significant adverse impacts are expected” if a spill did occur. The Center for Biological Diversity states, "MMS exempts hundreds of dangerous offshore oil drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico every year,” and exposed on May 7 that the MMS approved 27 new offshore drilling projects since the first day of the BP spill—"26 under the same environmental review exemption used to approve the disastrous BP drilling that is fouling the Gulf and its wildlife." Two were awarded to BP.

The Times Picayune today reported that independent investigations conducted by Robert Bea, a University of California at Berkeley engineering professor, that gas surges weeks before the explosion had forced BP to shut the well down, but that work on the rig went ahead. Bea’s investigations are compiling statements and testimony from workers present on the Deepwater Horizon at the time of the explosion and others. A further gas surge caused the explosion now wreaking destruction in the Gulf, and the release of methane gas had previously been called by BP “a negligible risk”.

BP has not been acting alone, but had the full backing of the government – the Obama administration approved BP's Gulf drilling bid in February 2009 - and now those who responsible for this crime against the environment claim we must rely on them not only to stop the continuing gush of oil polluting the Gulf, but also to clean this up and on top of that, investigate themselves.

This environmental disaster was not an "unavoidable accident” or an “act of god” - it’s a capitalist oil spill. BP refused to spend money on safety and environmental measures and equipment such as a back-up "acoustic switch" to stop oil from spilling because $500,000 was too high.

The Gulf of Mexico has been turned into a vast laboratory for deep-water oil drilling to serve capitalism's relentless drive for profit and strategic control of energy resources. Obama and other world "leaders" are not, and cannot be, caretakers of the planet—because they are caretakers of a system that is, by its very nature, behind the environmental emergency confronting humanity.

But things don't have to be this way. Under a radically different system, the tremendous wealth and technology that exist could be shared by all of humanity and used to meet the needs of people everywhere for decent and fulfilling lives and to safeguard the planet we live on. See “State of Emergency: The Plunder of our Planet, The Environmental Catastrophe and the Real Revolutionary Solution,” special environmental issue of Revolution at http://www.revcom.us/environment/index.html
Revolution newspaper is part of building a movement for all-the-way emancipatory revolution and a whole new world focused now in our campaign - “The Revolution We Need, the Leadership We Have”. Everyone concerned and outraged about the state of the world should find out about this, find ways to relate to it or become part of this effort.

The Rulers have no solutions to the environmental emergency, but the Revolution Does!

We demand:
1) Permanently ban all offshore oil drilling and exploration starting now!
2) Full public disclosure of the whole story on the causes and impacts of the spill. No cover-up! “Proprietary secret" (including ingredients of chemical “dispersants” poured into the Gulf) must not stand above health and the environment!
3) Government and all oil companies must assist volunteer clean up and assistance and provide safety equipment and training

4) Mobilize all government and corporate resources to stop the spill and to clean up the damage, to
the planet must come first, not profit! 5) Full compensation to the families of the workers who were killed and those injured, and to the businesses impacted by the spill.

Orpheus writes on issues of the environment and the antiglobalization movement and contributed to "State of Emergency! The Plunder Of Our Planet, The Environmental Catastrophe and The Real Revolutionary Solution.”

Larry Everest is a Revolution correspondent, and author of Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda, and Behind the Poison Cloud: Union Carbide’s Bhopal Massacre. The National Academy of Engineering drew on the book’s "Design for Disaster" chapter at their 2002 Annual Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering.

Links to coverage of Protest at Hearing Today

New York Times, “Finger-Pointing, but Few Answers at Hearings on Drilling,” 5/11/2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/us/12spill.html?hp

UPI: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/05/11/Gulf-area-hearing-into-oil-spill-disrupted/UPI-69481273597521/

Times Picayune: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/protesters_try_to_interrupt_st.html

WLTX.com: http://sec.wltx.com/photo/04t7eH41IvezM?q=Louisiana

Life.com: http://www.life.com/image/98967839

earthtimes.org: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/323137,us-oil-spill-investigation-opens-amidst-protest--update.htm