Pensacola official WRONG on re-opening the beaches

Remember Buck Lee, the Santa Rosa official who authorized the beaches back open?

Well, now we have hundreds of folks complaining about illnesses related to getting into that water:



Federal health officials wanted the beach closed, but local officials re-opened Pensacola Beach?

What is the authority for the safety of humans?

Now these beaches have local authorities on site to keep people out of the water, claiming high tide, surf, but what about some truth telling here.

These local business owners are acting like that Mayor from Jaws, remember him:



Now the EPA tours the Pensacola Beaches:



Now caution to avoid oil at the Pensacola Beaches?

I am just shocked because we all KNOW that contact with toxic crude, along with the dispersant in these waters is a cocktail for DEATH for human consumption. We don't need the government or local officials to tell responsible individuals this, yet how the EPA can not trump local officials is baffling to me. Also, I can not believe that the EPA has not tested the water, ALONE, on the Florida beaches. But in the end, it is about MONEY. Money can make everyone make BAD DECISIONS.

``We don't know how long this nightmare is going to move in slow motion,'' said Greg Brown, the property appraiser for neighboring Santa Rosa County. Though he has no firm estimates, Brown said the county's tax rolls could drop 25 percent this year because of the oil spill. ``It's well within the range of possibilities,'' he said.

{snip}

Sam Bearman, a Pensacola lawyer working on real estate claims against BP, said a plunge in vacation-home bookings has already ravaged property values.

``We're seeing much more of a ripple effect than you would have ever imagined,'' he said. One client has a home that ``she was intending to sell for $500,000. I'm not so sure she thinks she can get $100,000 at this point.''

{snip}

Fred Simmons has exposure to all facets of the tourism economy here -- he owns the Paradise Bar and Grill, the Paradise Inn and the Paradise Coastal Realty.

He has seen sales drop 40 percent since the April 20 oil-rig explosion in the Gulf ``and it's getting worse daily.''

``I don't know where this is going to end up,'' he said. Of BP, he said: ``I'm just hoping and praying they're going to pay. It will end my career if they don't.''

At least one person admitted that this oil catastophe is not one summer but many to come.....

And now the reality of what has been kept under wraps for a while, "Gulf spill 'bigger and uglier than we had hoped'". NO SHIT.

How dead is the Gulf of Mexico?

It is perhaps the most important question of the BP oil spill — but scientists don't appear close to answering it despite a historically vast effort.

In the 2 1/2 months since the spill began, the gulf has been examined by an armada of researchers — from federal agencies, universities and nonprofit groups. They have brought back vivid snapshots of a sea under stress: sharks and other deep-water fish suddenly appearing near shore, oil-soaked marshes turning deathly brown, clouds of oil swirling in deep water.

But, with key gaps remaining in their data, there is wide disagreement about the big picture. Some researchers have concluded that the gulf is being spared an ecological disaster. Others think ecosystems that were already in trouble before the spill are now being pushed toward a brink.

"The distribution of the oil, it's bigger and uglier than we had hoped," said Roger Helm, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official and the lead scientist studying the spill for the Interior Department. "The possibility of having significant changes in the food chain, over some period of time, is very real. The possibility of marshes disappearing . . . is very real."

I am not an ecological or environmental professional, but it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that all the crude oil spouting daily, along with the dispersant on the rampage daily does not bode well for the Gulf of Mexico. Both ingredients are toxic and you need haz-mat equipment to even deal with it, yet the down playing of this is very bothersome, along with the continued control by BP in regards to the media to show the full affects of what is happening in the Gulf. This is all about trying to convey that spill is not as bad, as many thought, when in fact it it worse. And the government? They are no better.



Lastly, to expect BP to make everyone whole is a joke. BP will fight giving anymore money after their initial 20B payment and this payment is over 3 years. The Florida Coast is upward of 60B alone. What about property damage, as in its worth? Businesses going belly up? Massive job loss in Florida alone? Trusting BP with their disastrous safety record, all for money should not make anyone comfortable. In the end, we will pay for this, as usual. The buck is always passed along to tax payers for corporate fuck ups. My question, "When is that going to stop?" And that loop current? From a previous diary, looks like the oil is already there.

Cross-posted on Daily Kos

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Dying wildlife thanks to BP!!!

More photos here.

A sad, damn, shame. No wonder BP does not want these images out there.

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Movement, MMS Director Elizabeth Birnbaum fired

Well, somebody had to go over that pimped out department called Minerals Management Services or MMS under the Interior Department. President Obama fires her. Well, he should and I say, get rid of Secretary Ken Salazar while you are at it. This alone is offensive and worth firing, though Birnbaum is after the fact.

CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports inspectors even went so far as to let oil companies literally fill out their own inspection reports using pencils. MMS inspectors would write on top of the pencil in ink and turn in the completed form.

And we won't talk about all the bribes, sex, drugs for oil leases to the mighty oil companies. Talk about too close for comfort? It is utterly disgraceful and due to all of this we have the worst environmental disaster, EVER, worse than the Exxon-Valdez.

The Obama administration has fired the head of the U.S. Minerals Management Service in response to blistering criticism over the federal government's lax oversight of BP and the rest of the offshore oil industry, Democratic sources told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The decision about Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum, who has run the service in the Interior Department since July 2009, was among the announcements being made Thursday by President Barack Obama.

The president's response to the five-week-old spill has prompted growing criticism about leadership from the White House, even as BP's efforts to stanch the leak are finally showing some promise.

Source
CBS

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BP CEO states, " Oil rig leak 'wasn't our accident' "

The BLAME GAME begins.....



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"Drill, Baby, Drill" is retired.

We heard, "Drill, Baby, Drill" through the 2008 election, continuously. In fact when President Obama performed a bait and switch on March 31, 2010, stating he will allow off shore drilling, Senator John McCain tweeted, "Drill baby drill! Good move – where are Reid and Pelosi on this?"

Well, as the 2010 mid-term election is upon us, that is a statement you WON'T hear. Not from Republicans and anyone running for office on either side. Not after hearing and watching what the BP Explosion has done and is still doing to the Gulf Coast region. Not when 200K gallons of oil is still pumping into the waters of the Gulf Coast and BP don't know how to stop it. This is a catastrophe of epic proportion.

Right now, that region is holding its breath hoping BP will figure out how to stop the spill, people are praying that this oil will not spill into the Gulf Coast waterways, shores. (Which unfortunately, many are starting to smell this oil on coastal shores.)

All of this has me thinking about the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. This spill off Southern California helped found Earth Day.

Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now observed on April 22 each year by more than 500 million people and several national governments in 175 countries.[citation needed]

Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. He modeled it on the highly effective Vietnam War teach-ins of the time.[6] The proposal for Earth Day was first proposed in a prospectus to JFK written by Fred Dutton.[7] However, Nelson decided against much of Dutton's top-down approach, favoring a decentralized, grassroots effort in which each community shaped their action around local concerns.

Nelson had conceived the idea for Earth Day following a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after the horrific oil spill off the coast in 1969. Outraged by the devastation and Washington political inertia, Nelson proposed a national teach-in on the environment to be observed by every university campus in the U.S.[8]

Environmentalists and many on the left did not want President Obama caving to the Republicans for any off-shore drilling. This was not Barack Obama's position during the election and caving for a principled point can lose you voters. But it was this statement said by President Obama that should change his mind, totally on off-shore drilling.

So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.

The problem with this point is that when it comes to off-shore drilling, we give the whole ball of wax to the oil companies. As we are seeing everything unfold, BP not only lied to the Administration on the magnitude of this spill, but whatever tools they had has failed. There goes protecting the environment, tourism, that region's economy and potential health hazards for the people of that region.

BP said last week that it and its partners in the well, including Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N), were paying $6 million a day in clean-up efforts but admitted costs would rise sharply when the oil slick hit land, as would claims for damages.

Hayward said the technical options his company was working on to try to seal the ruptured well included an undersea containment system that would capture the leaking oil and channel it to a tanker on the surface.

"It's fabricated and will be on location next weekend," he said.

Another option, the drilling of a relief well to intersect and try to control the ruptured well, was also "now underway," Hayward added.

BP was also using undersea robotic vehicles to try to fix the well blowout preventer -- a mechanism that he said had failed to prevent the oil gushing from the ruptured well following the rig accident.

"No one understands why it's failed. We have assembled in Houston 160 companies from across the industry to focus on this task," Hayward said.

We have seen the oil-spilled show every few decades. The show itself does not change, just the key oil players and administrations. And the results have always been the same, that of apology and shame by the offenders, that of threatening rhetoric by the administrations, that of anger by the population, and that of FORGETFULNESS down the road.

I hope President Obama changes his position on off-shore drilling and take a bold path of leading this country off the dependence of oil, period. Pandering to the right to get a bill passed may work in some instances, but for this instance, a total loss.

Cross-posted @Daily Kos

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President Obama in Louisiana with update on oil spill (Video)

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No one is chanting, "Drill, Baby, Drill", are they?

Well, Barack Obama has a full blown environmental disaster on his hands. And from this, I hope he has learned something from his pandering to drilling of the shores of America. I hope he has awaken to what a real disaster LOOKS LIKE off the shores of many Americans homes.

NO DRILLING OFF THE COAST. PERIOD. STOP WITH YOUR PANDERING. HALT OFF SHORE DRILLING.

Experts say it's not clear yet how much the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will harm the environment along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and other gulf states. But they say it is clear the harm will be great.

That stretch of coastline is full of marshlands, replete with reeds and piles of dead grass that could soak up oil like a sponge. Unlike fish, the area's famous populations of blue crabs and oysters won't be able to outrun the slick. And, precisely at this time of year, the region is host to vast numbers of migratory birds returning from their wintering grounds in South America.

Besides the damage to fish and wildlife, even the land itself could be a victim of the spill. One scientist said if the oil kills marsh grasses, it could eliminate a key natural barrier that keeps Louisiana's precious coastline from eroding.

Add all that up, and one environmental activist described the range of possibilities as "bad to very bad."

Drill, Baby, Drill? Shit, even the Republicans are quiet on that one. I mean, who wants to go vacation on an "oily beach"? Do you? The winds are blowing this oil to some of the most pristine beach areas in this country. Can you say, "catastrophe"? And don't worry, folks are going to be heated and hot on the reaction of the Obama Administration as the damage tolls continue to come in.

Source

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Obama gives the A-OK for offshore "expansion" or drilling

Is anyone surprised at this? I am not. This is all about continuing to bring the Republicans into the fold, to work with them, etc. And it may work, because John McCain tweeted, "Drill Baby Drill, where is Pelosi and Reid on this?"

I hope President Obama gets Republican support, he wants it badly, but after the health care debacle which the Republicans were allowed last summer to destroy what the bill would do for the individual American, does anyone expect them to show good faith on ANYTHING going forward? I don't. And Obama, again, giving the Republicans their largest bone, "OFF SHORE DRILLING". Just as he gave them good cuts in the health insurance bill, but he still did not get ONE VOTE. just sayin'.....

President Obama will announce new plans to drill for oil and natural gas off America's coasts Wednesday but will rule out drilling off California, Oregon and Washington state through 2017, administration officials say.

Obama's plans will include opening new areas of coastal Virginia and other parts of the mid-Atlantic region, Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico for drilling. But officials say the president will block drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay, where the George W. Bush administration's drilling plans in 2007 angered environmentalists.

According to administration officials, the plan would:

* Eventually open two-thirds of the eastern Gulf's oil and gas resources for drilling.

* Proceed with drilling off Virginia, provided the project clears environmental and military reviews.

* Study the viability of drilling off the mid- and southern Atlantic coasts.

* Study the viability of drilling in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- areas hotly defended by environmentalists -- but issue no new drilling leases in either sea before 2013.

The eastern Gulf of Mexico leases hinge on Congress lifting a moratorium on drilling there. Even if that happens, administration officials said, Obama's plan included no drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coastline.

The announcement, scheduled for an energy security event at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility, will be Obama's first major policy step into the politically charged area of offshore drilling.

The president's drilling plans run through 2017. The likely scope and details of the proposals represent compromises that risk angering energy companies and environmentalists alike. read more here....

Also, read a comprehensive diary on this with pictures of the possible drilling sites, here.

Oh, and don't forget what candidate Obama said about drilling for oil and how it would not help anyone. Yes, such a long time ago.



and the President's announcement today on the off shore drilling expansion, a decision he has not taken lightly....



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Obama's Remarks on Car Emissions (Video and Transcript)

Obama gets broad support on car emissions

Transcript

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Obama Administration requires cars to get 42 MPG

This is great news, all around. It should have been done YEARS ago with these automobiles. This is too long overdue.

New cars and trucks will have to get 30 percent better mileage starting in 2016 under an Obama administration move to curb emissions tied to smog and global warming, sources said Monday.

President Barack Obama was expected to adopt the higher mileage standards on Tuesday, administration sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.

The new requirement will mark the first time that limits on greenhouse gases will be linked to federal standards for cars and light trucks.

While the 30 percent increase would be an average for both cars and light trucks, the percentage increase in cars would be much greater, according to the New York Times, rising from the current 27.5 mpg standard to 42 mpg starting in 2016. The average for light trucks would rise from 24 mpg to 26.2 mpg.

California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia had earlier urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government's requirements. The states' regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016.
[snip]
Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, described it as "a triple play: It will help move America off foreign oil, save families money and spur American businesses to take the lead in developing the job-creating, clean-energy technologies of the future."

Obama's plan also would effectively end litigation between states and automakers. The latter had opposed state-specific rules, arguing that having to meet several state standards would be much more expensive for them than just one federal rule.

SOURCE

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Obama Administration to declare greenhouse gases a danger to public health

About time we are respecting SCIENCE in this country, AGAIN.

Having received White House backing, the Environmental Protection Agency was expected to declare Friday that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a significant threat to human health and thus will be listed as pollutants under the Clean Air Act — a policy the Bush administration rejected.

The move could allow the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, but it's more likely that the Obama administration will use the action to prod Congress to pass regulations around a system to cap and then trade emissions so that they are gradually lowered.

The EPA last month sent its proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which reviewed and approved it. By law, the decision includes a public comment period before being finalized.

The EPA concluded that six greenhouse gases should be considered pollutants under the 1970 Clean Air Act, which is already used to curb emissions that cause acid rain, smog and soot. read more here.....

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Obama's remarks on investing in clean energy (Video and Transcript)

Obama's Remarks on Clean Energy

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Obama Administration overturns Bush-era offshore drilling plan

Smack that one all the way DOWN....

The Obama administration on Tuesday overturned another Bush-era energy policy, setting aside a draft plan to allow drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

"To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside" the plan "and create our own timeline," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in a statement.

Alleging that the Bush administration "had torpedoed" offshore renewable energy in favor of oil and natural gas, Salazar said he was extending the public comment period by 6 months.

"The additional time we are providing will give states, stakeholders, and affected communities the opportunity to provide input on the future of our offshore areas," he said.

Salazar also ordered Interior Department experts to compile a report on the Outer Continental Shelf's energy potential — not just oil and gas, but also renewables like wind and wave energy.

"In the biggest area that the Bush administration’s draft OCS plan proposes for oil and gas drilling — the Atlantic seaboard, from Maine to Florida — our data on available resources is very thin, and what little we have is twenty to thirty years old," he said. "We shouldn't make decisions to sell off taxpayer resources based on old information." read more here

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Obama reversing a Bush decision on mercury pollution

While we are biting fingernails on the stimulus package, some real stuff is getting done.

President Barack Obama is abandoning a Bush administration appeal of an air pollution case, signaling that the government will embrace tougher rules to cut mercury emissions from power plants.

The case was soon to come before the Supreme Court. The Obama administration submitted papers Friday to the court asking for the case to be dismissed.

An appeals court last year rejected a Bush administration plan for regulating mercury emissions. It said the plan should not have included allowing utilities to purchase emission credits instead of actually reducing emissions.

Scientists fear mercury pollution leads to neurological problems in infants.

The power industry still has a separate petition challenging the appeals court ruling, which is unaffected by the Obama administration's action.

While the administration has signaled it is breaking with its predecessor's course on several issues, Friday's filing is the first outright reversal of a legal position taken by the Bush administration at the Supreme Court.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told reporters at a green jobs conference in Washington that the Obama administration would draft its own rules under the Clean Air Act to curb mercury emissions. She said the EPA would likely set limits on the toxic metal from power plants and other sources.

"We're better off spending all our resources making rules that will stick instead of fighting the courts on this one," Jackson said.

Environmentalists had argued that the Bush system would create "hot spots" of mercury contamination near some power plants. Seventeen states and health groups joined the lawsuit to block the regulation, and the appellate court sided with them.

In a two-page filing to the Supreme Court, Acting Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler says the EPA "has decided, consistent with the court of appeals' ruling, to develop appropriate standards to regulate power-plant admissions."

Source

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Obama announcement to allow states cap car emissions (Video)

Transcript

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Obama setting new automobile emissions regulations

He is moving quick, environmentalists should be happy about this. And about time.

President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday evening.

The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Mr. Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy.

Mr. Obama’s presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While it stops short of flatly ordering the Bush decision reversed, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.

Once they act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.

Isn't the above in bold (my emphasis) the reason Detroit is in Washington, DC asking for a bailout? With high gas prices all those trucks, SUVs cost an arm and a leg for the average person, and I mean high gas prices when they deem necessary to jack it up. Too many gas guzzlers, plus this industry failing to be innovative. Again, the car industry has been in bed with oil and gas far too long. It is way over due to demand fuel efficient cars.

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