by RLMiller
Last Thursday, President Obama announced changes to the Administration's offshore oil drilling policy. As fleshed out by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and new Minerals Management Service head Bob Abbey, the details are far better than expected. Yesterday, a new shallow water well was given a permit amid cries of "sellout! hypocrite! meaningless moratorium!" The moratorium never was meant to apply to shallow water drilling (despite a flurry of confusion earlier this morning). Even so, the policy -- some of which is a temporary moratorium, and some of which appears permanent -- deserves a solid B grade.
continued at Daily Kos....
Thursday, June 3, 2010
When will they get it ...
by jamess
When will people get it -- we live on a fragile planet with limited, fragile resources. [fair warning: Pictorial Diary, over the fold.]
continued at Daily Kos....
When will people get it -- we live on a fragile planet with limited, fragile resources. [fair warning: Pictorial Diary, over the fold.]
continued at Daily Kos....
Stupid Liberals Demand Criminal Not Clean Up Crime Scene!
by slinkerwink
Here's a story for you guys. One day, the police gets a tip that a crime has been committed, but that the criminal is still within vicinity. So, what does the police do? They go over to where the criminal resides, asks him to participate with the police, and to go back to the crime scene. All of this sounds normal at first, but then there's the twist to the story--the police puts the criminal in charge of the press operations, data-collection of evidence from the crime scene, and orders the criminal to clean up any sort of blood stains at the crime scene. Meanwhile, the press relies on the criminal for any sort of information about the crime scene, the criminal lies about the evidence, hires and abuses contractors, and refuses to abide by environmental laws. And the criminal ignores the order from the police to stop using a toxic solvent in cleaning up the crime scene. This is what our government is doing with BP. This is wrong, and liberals at the Center for American Progress have proposed a different path for our government to take with BP.
continued at Daily Kos....
Here's a story for you guys. One day, the police gets a tip that a crime has been committed, but that the criminal is still within vicinity. So, what does the police do? They go over to where the criminal resides, asks him to participate with the police, and to go back to the crime scene. All of this sounds normal at first, but then there's the twist to the story--the police puts the criminal in charge of the press operations, data-collection of evidence from the crime scene, and orders the criminal to clean up any sort of blood stains at the crime scene. Meanwhile, the press relies on the criminal for any sort of information about the crime scene, the criminal lies about the evidence, hires and abuses contractors, and refuses to abide by environmental laws. And the criminal ignores the order from the police to stop using a toxic solvent in cleaning up the crime scene. This is what our government is doing with BP. This is wrong, and liberals at the Center for American Progress have proposed a different path for our government to take with BP.
continued at Daily Kos....
Oil to reach the Atlantic ? updated w/ video
by worldforallpeopleorg
The NYDailynews has an interesting animation of BP gusher effects - as a two month event. I tried over and over but couldn't embed it here. There is a warning that it is only a scenario of what might happen, depending on loop currents. Just the same, I thought y'all might find it interesting. Over; UPDATE: Hat tip to 'Tacet', who found a better source and now the video is below.
continued at Daily Kos....
The NYDailynews has an interesting animation of BP gusher effects - as a two month event. I tried over and over but couldn't embed it here. There is a warning that it is only a scenario of what might happen, depending on loop currents. Just the same, I thought y'all might find it interesting. Over; UPDATE: Hat tip to 'Tacet', who found a better source and now the video is below.
continued at Daily Kos....
BRRRREAKING: New drilling blocked at ALL depths
by Mark Warner is God
The Obama administration is evil, and I'm working really hard to find out a reason how their latest action fits within their grand scheme to sell off all of of the children of America as slave labor for oil companies looking to test whether oil is edible, but it's still worth reading about their latest attempt to appease the people who declared Obama a failure after Rick Warren. The Obama administration is blocking all new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a day after regulators approved a new permit for drilling in shallow water. The Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore drilling, says in an e-mail from its Gulf Coast office that "until further notice" no new drilling is being allowed in the Gulf, "no matter the water depth." A copy of the e-mail was obtained by The Associated Press. The announcement comes a day after the MMS granted a new drilling permit for a site about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, 115 feet below the ocean surface. Environmental groups said the administration was misleading the public by allowing work to resume in waters up to 500 feet deep while maintaining a moratorium on deepwater drilling.
continued at Daily Kos....
The Obama administration is evil, and I'm working really hard to find out a reason how their latest action fits within their grand scheme to sell off all of of the children of America as slave labor for oil companies looking to test whether oil is edible, but it's still worth reading about their latest attempt to appease the people who declared Obama a failure after Rick Warren. The Obama administration is blocking all new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a day after regulators approved a new permit for drilling in shallow water. The Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore drilling, says in an e-mail from its Gulf Coast office that "until further notice" no new drilling is being allowed in the Gulf, "no matter the water depth." A copy of the e-mail was obtained by The Associated Press. The announcement comes a day after the MMS granted a new drilling permit for a site about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, 115 feet below the ocean surface. Environmental groups said the administration was misleading the public by allowing work to resume in waters up to 500 feet deep while maintaining a moratorium on deepwater drilling.
continued at Daily Kos....
Ohio Coal Plant Linked to $30m in Annual Economic Damage
by Bruce Nilles
This post was co-written by Nachy Kanfer, Associate Field Organizer for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Ohio. We regularly dispute Big Coal when they say coal is not bad for the environment - now we have another example of how this dirty, outdated power source is costing jobs and damaging the economy in one state. The Sierra Club just co-released a report showing that the Bay Shore coal-fired power plant in Oregon, Ohio, causes nearly $30 million in damages to the state's economy every year.
continued at Daily Kos....
This post was co-written by Nachy Kanfer, Associate Field Organizer for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Ohio. We regularly dispute Big Coal when they say coal is not bad for the environment - now we have another example of how this dirty, outdated power source is costing jobs and damaging the economy in one state. The Sierra Club just co-released a report showing that the Bay Shore coal-fired power plant in Oregon, Ohio, causes nearly $30 million in damages to the state's economy every year.
continued at Daily Kos....
Why the BP oil spill is nothing like a 'plane crash'
by ProgressiveSouth
With public support for offshore oil drilling slipping and Washington pushing for new regulations on the industry, what's a pro-drilling politician, pundit or lobbyist to do?Apparently, something like this: Minimize the Gulf oil disaster, compare it to a freak accident, and suggest that drilling for oil 5,000 feet beneath the ocean is just as essential to our daily lives as, say, flying in an airplane.
continued at Daily Kos....
With public support for offshore oil drilling slipping and Washington pushing for new regulations on the industry, what's a pro-drilling politician, pundit or lobbyist to do?Apparently, something like this: Minimize the Gulf oil disaster, compare it to a freak accident, and suggest that drilling for oil 5,000 feet beneath the ocean is just as essential to our daily lives as, say, flying in an airplane.
continued at Daily Kos....
Drill, Bobby, Drill!
by Crashing Vor
I've been thinking about Bobby Jindal. Not just because I had to detour by the shuttered Charity Hospital today, either. Bobby's been doing his best to make sure we're thinking about him every day. Wading in oily marshes, poised before national microphones or valiantly defending his mighty sand berms like Jean Valjean on the freaking barricades, our governor is about the lens time now, canceling his book tour and punching the disaster response clock. Heck, New Republic even proclaimed that Kenneth the Page is all growed up now.
continued at Daily Kos....
I've been thinking about Bobby Jindal. Not just because I had to detour by the shuttered Charity Hospital today, either. Bobby's been doing his best to make sure we're thinking about him every day. Wading in oily marshes, poised before national microphones or valiantly defending his mighty sand berms like Jean Valjean on the freaking barricades, our governor is about the lens time now, canceling his book tour and punching the disaster response clock. Heck, New Republic even proclaimed that Kenneth the Page is all growed up now.
continued at Daily Kos....
Reducing Waste in Our Schools' Cafeterias
by BadRabbit
I was recently a guest blogger on Mrs. Q's "Fed Up with School Kunch" blog and cross posted it here to share with the DKos community. Here's a link to the original blog post. http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot...
continued at Daily Kos....
I was recently a guest blogger on Mrs. Q's "Fed Up with School Kunch" blog and cross posted it here to share with the DKos community. Here's a link to the original blog post. http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot...
continued at Daily Kos....
The Zombie Lies of Climate Change Skeptics (Chicago Trib. ed.)
by Steven D
Want examples on how mercenary Climate Skeptics distort the truth and use the same old lies to further their agenda? Lies that have been disproved over and over again but keep popping out of their graves like zombies. Look no further than the Chicago Tribune on June 1st:
continued at Daily Kos....
Want examples on how mercenary Climate Skeptics distort the truth and use the same old lies to further their agenda? Lies that have been disproved over and over again but keep popping out of their graves like zombies. Look no further than the Chicago Tribune on June 1st:
continued at Daily Kos....
Mother Mother Ocean
by Edger
Crossposted from Antemedius A couple of weeks ago on May 17 we heard and saw Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Jeremy Jackson talk about and show us the shockingly overfished, overheated, and polluted state of our oceans today and how they have been so for long before BP's Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, with indicators that things will get much worse. Though he's been a contract photojournalist for National Geographic Magazine since 1998, Brian Skerry has spent the past three decades telling the stories of the ocean. His images portray not only the aesthetic wonder of the ocean but display an intense journalistic drive for relevance.
continued at Daily Kos....
Crossposted from Antemedius A couple of weeks ago on May 17 we heard and saw Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Jeremy Jackson talk about and show us the shockingly overfished, overheated, and polluted state of our oceans today and how they have been so for long before BP's Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, with indicators that things will get much worse. Though he's been a contract photojournalist for National Geographic Magazine since 1998, Brian Skerry has spent the past three decades telling the stories of the ocean. His images portray not only the aesthetic wonder of the ocean but display an intense journalistic drive for relevance.
continued at Daily Kos....
We Dumped Their Tea, They Retaliated with Oil - is the Party Over?
by Vyan
It's been a long time since that fateful night in Boston when in protest of the Tea Act, a set of Americans committed a Terrorist act of vandalism by dumping boxes of Tea from the British East India Company into the Ocean. Since Teh Book Learnin' isn't really high on their agenda, the modern day self-titled Tea Party with their anti-Government, Anti-Tax rhetoric have repeatedly failed to realize that the heart of the original Boston protest - was a Corporate Tax Cut that would have undermined local businesses. The North ministry's solution was the Tea Act, which received the assent of King George on May 10, 1773.[26] This act restored the East India Company's full refund on the 25% duty for importing tea into Britain, and also permitted the company, for the first time, to export tea to the colonies on its own account. Even with the Townshend duty in effect, the Tea Act would allow the East India Company to sell tea more cheaply than before, undercutting the prices offered by smugglers. And one wonders just how they might ultimately react to the British Oil Attack?
continued at Daily Kos....
It's been a long time since that fateful night in Boston when in protest of the Tea Act, a set of Americans committed a Terrorist act of vandalism by dumping boxes of Tea from the British East India Company into the Ocean. Since Teh Book Learnin' isn't really high on their agenda, the modern day self-titled Tea Party with their anti-Government, Anti-Tax rhetoric have repeatedly failed to realize that the heart of the original Boston protest - was a Corporate Tax Cut that would have undermined local businesses. The North ministry's solution was the Tea Act, which received the assent of King George on May 10, 1773.[26] This act restored the East India Company's full refund on the 25% duty for importing tea into Britain, and also permitted the company, for the first time, to export tea to the colonies on its own account. Even with the Townshend duty in effect, the Tea Act would allow the East India Company to sell tea more cheaply than before, undercutting the prices offered by smugglers. And one wonders just how they might ultimately react to the British Oil Attack?
continued at Daily Kos....
BREAKING: California Poised to Approve Super-Toxic Pesticide
by AdamL
You would think we had enough toxic chemicals flowing into our environment these days. To my amazement, California is poised to approve the use of methyl iodide as a pesticide, a chemical so toxic that merely breathing it can cause lung, liver, kidney and central nervous system damage. The San Francisco Chronicle has an article that has researchers lining up against this toxic chemical. Susan Kegley, a consulting scientist for Pesticide Action Network, a nonprofit public interest group in San Francisco, said approving methyl iodide would be a flirtation with disaster no matter how many safeguards are in place. "This stuff just kills everything," said Kegley, a chemist, who pointed out that even low doses have caused neurological damage and fetal death in laboratory animals. "It is a known carcinogen." That doesn't sound like the sort of thing you want in your strawberry jam.
continued at Daily Kos....
You would think we had enough toxic chemicals flowing into our environment these days. To my amazement, California is poised to approve the use of methyl iodide as a pesticide, a chemical so toxic that merely breathing it can cause lung, liver, kidney and central nervous system damage. The San Francisco Chronicle has an article that has researchers lining up against this toxic chemical. Susan Kegley, a consulting scientist for Pesticide Action Network, a nonprofit public interest group in San Francisco, said approving methyl iodide would be a flirtation with disaster no matter how many safeguards are in place. "This stuff just kills everything," said Kegley, a chemist, who pointed out that even low doses have caused neurological damage and fetal death in laboratory animals. "It is a known carcinogen." That doesn't sound like the sort of thing you want in your strawberry jam.
continued at Daily Kos....
Rachel Maddow Did Some Great Reporting Re: Wetlands Last Night
by Muzikal203
. . . and if you missed it you should definitely check it out. I'd heard people saying how bad it will be for the oil to hit the wetlands, but no one really told WHY before. I mean outside of the obvious fact that it would be terribly difficult (damn near impossible) to clean. Last night Rachel explained what the wetlands were, what they do, and how the oil spill will harm the wetlands and ultimately the city of New Orleans and the rest of the country. I'm going to post the video below the jump.
continued at Daily Kos....
. . . and if you missed it you should definitely check it out. I'd heard people saying how bad it will be for the oil to hit the wetlands, but no one really told WHY before. I mean outside of the obvious fact that it would be terribly difficult (damn near impossible) to clean. Last night Rachel explained what the wetlands were, what they do, and how the oil spill will harm the wetlands and ultimately the city of New Orleans and the rest of the country. I'm going to post the video below the jump.
continued at Daily Kos....
Oil rig insurance up, BP credit rating down
by Cedwyn
First off, everyone worried about BP's pension obligations to former employees can breathe a sigh of relief; expert consensus seems to be that BP has the bankroll to survive this. If they heed the calls from Congress and elsewhere to forgo their $10 billion dividend payment, they probably will be fine for covering expenses. Then again, no one appears able to agree on just what the total costs will be, especially since that's a function of just how much oil is leaked. Hayward fantasizes that clean-up costs will be in the neighborhood of $3.5 billion. * snigger * Other analysts at Credit Suisse estimate closer to $15-23 billion, with another $23 billion in compensation claims. There is agreement, though, that BP will come through this. The question is, in what condition?
continued at Daily Kos....
First off, everyone worried about BP's pension obligations to former employees can breathe a sigh of relief; expert consensus seems to be that BP has the bankroll to survive this. If they heed the calls from Congress and elsewhere to forgo their $10 billion dividend payment, they probably will be fine for covering expenses. Then again, no one appears able to agree on just what the total costs will be, especially since that's a function of just how much oil is leaked. Hayward fantasizes that clean-up costs will be in the neighborhood of $3.5 billion. * snigger * Other analysts at Credit Suisse estimate closer to $15-23 billion, with another $23 billion in compensation claims. There is agreement, though, that BP will come through this. The question is, in what condition?
continued at Daily Kos....
Florida is about to GO OFF....
by icebergslim
THE OIL IS COMING, THE OIL IS COMING, THE OIL IS COMING....
continued at Daily Kos....
THE OIL IS COMING, THE OIL IS COMING, THE OIL IS COMING....
continued at Daily Kos....
Multiview BP Spill Cams 3x3 with 24 Choices
by Vote For America
I quick made this: http://static.voteforamerica.net/... It has a 3x3 grid of BP spill cam video with 24 selectable videos. It may take a while to initially load, but it should work once the videos have buffered. Its all through your web browser. I just wanted to post this to ensure that people were aware about it. I don't know how much exposure my comment in the nightly liveblog will recieve, so I'm talking matters into my own hands with a diary that basically provides a link.
continued at Daily Kos....
I quick made this: http://static.voteforamerica.net/... It has a 3x3 grid of BP spill cam video with 24 selectable videos. It may take a while to initially load, but it should work once the videos have buffered. Its all through your web browser. I just wanted to post this to ensure that people were aware about it. I don't know how much exposure my comment in the nightly liveblog will recieve, so I'm talking matters into my own hands with a diary that basically provides a link.
continued at Daily Kos....
ROCKMAN's How This Happened
by MediaFreeze
Like many, I have been monitoring The Oil Drum, a technical blog about the oil industry. The Oil Drum has a lot of new (newbie) members since the crisis. One of the regular contributors is ROCKMAN. In this post he does an excellent job of explaining what he thinks happened:
continued at Daily Kos....
Like many, I have been monitoring The Oil Drum, a technical blog about the oil industry. The Oil Drum has a lot of new (newbie) members since the crisis. One of the regular contributors is ROCKMAN. In this post he does an excellent job of explaining what he thinks happened:
continued at Daily Kos....
Who's Who of 21st Century Hurricanes
by Stranded Wind
I first published something like this back in 2007 elsewhere. Now when June rolls around I'm like some curious, flightless Storm petrel, migrating to Google to locate the latest revision of Who's Who of 21st Century Hurricanes so I can update and repost it. As the Earth warms I expect to periodically update this with new extreme tropical systems and I'm particularly interested to see how long it takes before we see another tropical storm in the Great Lakes, as we did with Hurricane Huron back in 1996. Come inside, have a look around. I bet The Big Seven are all storms you've never heard of ... but they're all signs of a hotter, wilder world.
continued at Daily Kos....
I first published something like this back in 2007 elsewhere. Now when June rolls around I'm like some curious, flightless Storm petrel, migrating to Google to locate the latest revision of Who's Who of 21st Century Hurricanes so I can update and repost it. As the Earth warms I expect to periodically update this with new extreme tropical systems and I'm particularly interested to see how long it takes before we see another tropical storm in the Great Lakes, as we did with Hurricane Huron back in 1996. Come inside, have a look around. I bet The Big Seven are all storms you've never heard of ... but they're all signs of a hotter, wilder world.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP's trusty lab analyzes crucial sci. evidence
by Gorette
I wanted to say it's nonsensical but it makes all too much sense. At the same time Obama's NOAA administrator and BP are denying the existence of oil plumes, the lab chosen to be in charge analysis and oil spill data is truly an industry insider that has now scrubbed its website! [What's up with that? Below the fold.] Why not choose a laboratory that can be trusted completely key evidence on the BP Oil Gusher, one that is non-partial, objective, scientific? Any LAB not OWNED by the industry it will be in essence investigating? The lab should not have any industry ties. When BP and tens of billions of dollars are involved then all appearances of further "cosy" relationships and collusion should be avoided. Maybe collusion is too strong a word to use? I don't know but I'm suspicious as all get out. What's up? Given BP and NOAA's denials, we must be suspicious. This cannot stand!
continued at Daily Kos....
I wanted to say it's nonsensical but it makes all too much sense. At the same time Obama's NOAA administrator and BP are denying the existence of oil plumes, the lab chosen to be in charge analysis and oil spill data is truly an industry insider that has now scrubbed its website! [What's up with that? Below the fold.] Why not choose a laboratory that can be trusted completely key evidence on the BP Oil Gusher, one that is non-partial, objective, scientific? Any LAB not OWNED by the industry it will be in essence investigating? The lab should not have any industry ties. When BP and tens of billions of dollars are involved then all appearances of further "cosy" relationships and collusion should be avoided. Maybe collusion is too strong a word to use? I don't know but I'm suspicious as all get out. What's up? Given BP and NOAA's denials, we must be suspicious. This cannot stand!
continued at Daily Kos....
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