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 18th, 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
things I've found..
ReplyDeleteLast night's NBC news had Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana where oil is washing into the wetlands. He said "we can't wait anymore" and did some exposure of how the government is blocking efforts to limit the damage of the oil and preventing cleanup getting started. He says a week ago the army corp of engineers helped work out how to build something that would stop the oil coming in so far, but then permits from the army corp of engineers to do that have been withheld since. In the meantime the oil has come in and already killed a large section of wetlands.
The link to the video of this is: http://www.hulu.com/watch/151461/nbc-nightly-news-with-brian-williams-plaquemines-parish-president-we-cant-wait-anymore
Also, whats-his-name Gibbs, the press secretary, said in response to a question last night that "we can't take control of a private company" when asked why the government doesn't just take control of this spill.
And... it looks like Obama appointed Bush's EPA head to head the commission about this spill.