Category Archives: White House

Six Young People Die in Louisiana’s Red River

Posted on August 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

It appears that six young people from two families have drowned in the Red River today. None of the young people could swim and they were on a sand bar in a natural river recreating. Apparently one of the drowning youth, a fourteen year old, was rescued. This was in North Louisiana.  The drowned  teens were all apparently both black and African-Americans. One young person who was not of such a description and may or may not have participated in the successful rescue of the one that did survive reported losing another victim he was attempting to rescue from beneath the waters. Yahoo News has the basic story on video and in text: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/21202902. I wonder how many ways issues of race affect this story and are  important to policy but are not being considered. The good probability that blacks in the age of Obama found directives about anything distasteful and not worth their time is pretty high. Not learning to swim and endangering themselves and other have a racial element.

In addition to this, I saw a report in which a young woman was injured severely, and may still die, from being dropped one hundred feet on to the ground instead of released on to a net from a similar distance. The girl’s father was a doctor.  He claims she was dead when he got to her. There is a story with some illustrations at this site: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/03/earlyshow/main6738986.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentAux

Here it seems to me one has to at least consider some other things as upsetting as suggesting that Black Teen culture may have reached all the way to rural Louisiana to help kill those six kids. A culture of short-cuts may have squeezed the life out of these black Americans, if in fact all were black and even if only one family was black. Here in the park I would want to consider cold-blooded murder as a possibility. I would want to examine all the reasons why it might have happened. Presumably it is an act of negligence or recklessness in a social context. But the act itself was a near execution. I think cold-blooded murder and thrill-killing deserve to be considered.

This blog is written by someone who is moving a little further from the stream and flow of daily American life with each passing year. But if we are reaching appoint where we cannot ask ugly questions that the ugly facts may suggest in ugly situations then we truly are dooming ourselves in yet another way.

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Posted in family, race, Secrets, United States of America, Western civilization, White House

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Why the Oil Leak in the Gulf has Dominated this Blog

Posted on June 29, 2010 | 1 comment

I am not running a specialty blog here. I have a personal and fairly general purpose blog.  Yet there have been so many posts on the BP Oil Leak and none that were not at all related to the oil disaster in the Gulf in quite a while.  I want to use this post to discuss briefly why I have given so much more attention to this situation than I have to anything else since I began this blog. In case anyone reading has any doubt, I had not started this blog when the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred.  If I had this blog in those days I think that I would have posted about it for a similar length of time with relatively comparable intensity. I did in fact bring it up fairly often and fairly early in the newspaper articles that I published when writing as a reporter and as a feature writer in those days.

I did  and do think that World Trade Center and Pentagon wrecking crisis was a life changing kind of crisis.  I also think that this wetlands crisis is a life changing kind of crisis.  I think that this crisis makes us aware of the vitality, importance and threatened state of Louisiana and Gulf Coast wetlands. I think that this crisis can make us aware of certain strengths and weaknesses of our global , national and regional economies that are not well enough known nor carefully enough considered. We need to also understand how little planning, responsibility and mitigation exists in huge areas of our economic life. We need to understand how often we punish those behaving responsibly and excuse those pillaging the planet. I have pointed out repeatedly that BP is a British corporation. In balance I would like to encourage you to hear this address from Prince Charles of Wales, Duke of Cornwall  to the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change before all of this began. I think his words show that there are many tie to be formed and bridges to be built to secure a decent future. British Petroleum’ s disaster is in contrast to these words of a British Prince:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyLpo3rHHQ4&playnext_from=TL&videos=hu-_iGvuMXU

I have given this disaster so much emphasis because it is an incident about which I have a great deal of background knowledge. I am positioned to understand a great deal about all of this and explain some of it my blog’s readership. I have fished and boated these waters. I have done research and paralegal tasks for lawyers involved in spill and oil industry law suits. My life has involved a great deal of study about the peoples and history of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. These frames of reference and sets of facts have given me an understanding of how this tragedy has been playing out across this region.

Now I am not going to blog about this oil mess forever. If I do not die first of something beyond my control I expect to write on other subjects again soon enough. In fact it will be a relief to reassert the independence of this blog from any one subject.

But for now this is my subject. For now it is what I need to be thinking and blogging about more than most other things.  I hope that you will keep reading for now.

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Posted in 9-11 attacks, Acadians, Audobon Society, Bobby Jindal, BP - British Petroleum, BP Chairman Svanberg, Environment, family, Frank W. Summers, Geopolitics, Gulf of Mexico, Ken Feinberg, Louisiana, media, Oil & Gas Industry, Royalty and Empire, Sweden, United States of America, Western civilization, Wetlands, White House

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Numbers for the BP Oil Spill Links and Notes

Posted on June 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is a very brief post on some of the numbers involved in this BP Oil Spill. There is a lot that can be written about these numbers but I will not write it here.

1. Forty-two (42) gallons per barrel of oil, 42,000 gallons per 1,000 barrels, and 420,000 gallons per 10,000 barrels.

2.How much money has BP Spent and will it spend and can it spend on this mess? For that analysis see this link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37689703/ns/business-world_business/

3. There were 640 North American rigs on June 18,2010. That means oil and gas seeking or drilling or working over rigs as opposed to those just piping or pumping or producing oil. The link below has a table on how this all plays out.

 http://www.wtrg.com/rotaryrigs.html 

4. Less natural gas drilling in Gulf and the relationship to prices and economics. There are a lot of numbers here see this link.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngw/ngupdate.asp

5. How many jobs are there in Offshore drilling and production? Are they increasing or decreasing?What portion are in the Gulf of Mexico?

a. Here is an introduction to and summary of news about this subject: http://www.donpedroshipping.co.uk/offshore_jobs.html

b. One place where people look for jobs in the industry and worry about these numbers:

 http://www.oilgrads.com/

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Posted in Acadians, BP - British Petroleum, BP Chairman Svanberg, Environment, Gulf of Mexico, Ken Feinberg, Louisiana, Oil & Gas Industry, United States of America, Western civilization, Wetlands, White House

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BP Oil Spill & A Tour for Kenneth Feinberg

Posted on June 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

i have given lots of small informal tours to those visiting the Gulf and Louisiana. I think that Kenneth Feinberg needs such a tour. I am too disconnected to give him the tour I would recommend. But I would recommend a tour for his orientation and to get him established. in his tasks.

For those reading this blog post who may not know much at all about Kenneth Feinberg I recommend starting by going to this link and then coming back to the post here. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/bp-gulf-oil-spill-ken-feinberg-appointed-head/story?id=10933766

I would make this an “Open Letter to Kenneth Feinberg” except that I have no reason to believe he reads this blog and I also am not  writing a post in a good letter format. But I am going to write in manner such as I might use in writing to Mr. Feinberg if each item were imbedded in a letter

First, before we begin this tour you may wonder why you need it.  I think the federal government should pay for it.  That may seem an unnecessary expense.  That is all the more of a sign that you do need it. It is not only pleasurable although there should be some pleasure in ti. Cultivate a really open attitude and disposition.  Be more humble than usual. Mr. Feinberg you followed the news about Agent Orange for years before you mediated that dispute ( whether you were aware of it or not). You knew a great deal about the cultural features and institutions of the area of Manhattan that included the World Trade Center. You had heard of the Zapruder film for decades and you spent lots of time in universities like Virginia Tech. Certainly you could not call yourself an ingenue as regards Wall Street executive life. However, you are probably very much an ignoramus here. Asode from hiring consultants and masters to assist you I would urge you to take a tour although you will be criticized for some it and it must create some bad photographs which will (not merely might) hurt your image. Do it anyway, spend three days:

Evening One New Orleans:

a. Have someone knowledgeable discuss the Urner- Barry Seafood Price Current and  the free wildlife and fisheries brochures of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida (and maybe Texas as well).  Have them quiz you on a few areas. Then with the same small group order up some seafood and have a film party watch Louisiana Story and Angels of the Basin. Then have an offical of the Louisiana Seafood Promotions and Marketing board discuss the seafood that has been eaten and present a brief slide show on various species and fisheries. Get a good nights sleep.

Morning One New Orleans:

b. Take a special tour of the Aquarium of the Americas with the Audubon Institute. Then take a paddlewheel river boat to the Audubon Zoo. Have the Coast Guard point out various kinds of river vessels and industries.  Let the Port Authority present a brief sideshow and the Hotel Association cater a brunch. When you arrive at the zoo tour the relevant part of the zoo with the Audubon Institute.  Then walk across Audubon park to Tulane University.  Meet with the Environmental Law faculty and students. Let them report on what is going on. Have a few snacks and coffee with members of the environmental bar and the licensing community.

Afternoon One and Evening Two Louisiana and Mississippi:

c. Have a helicopter pick up you and a couple of consultants and fly you over the wetlands and over Venice before dropping you at Port Fourchon. Tour the LOOP and have the various petroleum associations present you with a sideshow.    Let Louisiana State University give you a history of the oil industry in the Gulf Coast with papers you can refer to later.

d. Take the refueled helicopter over the Atchafalaya and the marshes around Vermilion Bay to Delcambre, Louisiana have the business community, shrimpers and officials present the way that industry functions and the way people live. Have dinner at Jefferson Island and meet with representatives the eco-tourism industry. Watch the film about the Lake Peigneur Disaster. Tour the island and have The University of Louisiana at Lafayette present a lecture and slide show on the cultural history of Coastal Louisiana.

e. Drive to a small plane and have it fly you over the Gulf’s oil rigs on a special flight plan at night. Land in Biloxi, Mississippi. Take a brief tour of the Towns sights and stay in a casino hotel. Preside over a dinner hosted by the tourism community. Go to sleep.

Morning Two Mississippi and Alabama.

f. Drive on a high touring bus from Biloxi to Dauphin Island Alabama stopping to see beaches. In Dauphin Island here from the charter boat community. Have a seafood lunch. Take the fastest available charter boat from the Island to Mobile Bay.

Afternoon Two and Evening Three Alabama and Florida:

g. Attend a lecture in the Fort on historical tourism on Gulf Coast presented by the University of Alabama.  Have dinner in a nice hotel in Mobile and hear a presentation on how the coast functions as an economic region across and within states presented by the banking community. Fly in a small plane to Pensacola, Florida. Have a geographer discuss patterns of lit up settlement. Stay in a very upscale beachfront condominium and have the real estate community present  a sideshow and lecture on coastal real estate. Go to bed.

Morning Three Florida: 

  h. Drive from Pensacola to Destin stopping to see beaches and piers. Have a discussion with University of Florida faculty over lunch on the patterns of recent migration to the Florida Coastal regions and it national economic significance.

Afternoon Three Long Helicopter Flight :

i. Take a long helicopter flight over rigs ports and wetlands to Houma, Louisiana. Go to the BP Claims Center and have a discussion session with everyone working there. Ask questions, tour the facility meet some claimants who have been invited to dinner with you.

After dinner you will be free man. You will not know all that much but you will know what you do not know. Then when you do your job it need not be a long string of  insulting misunderstandings.

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Posted in Acadians, Audobon Society, BP - British Petroleum, Environment, family, Geopolitics, Hot Summer Weather, Ken Feinberg, Louisiana, Oil & Gas Industry, Organizations making change, Personal Philosophy and Moral Economics, Wetlands, White House

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BP Oil Spill & Politics

Posted on June 7, 2010 | 1 comment

 This is going to be one of my shortest posts on the spill. I think that we can see that (while BP claims it will not be an issue in this case) the insurance aspect of of US Oil Pollution Act law and regulation is grossly inadequate. The federal government are involved but they have not declared the Gulf Coast a disater area which would free up the machinery of governance and money and then allow for the billing of BP while addressing parts of the crisis in a more timely manner. As of this oil kill of wildlife was found in texas and so now every Gulf Coast state has been affected. 

I actually find the assurances that this will never happen again upsetting. Such a claim will excuse the industry from improving mitigation, containment and deployment technology. It will excuse government from creating better insurance and response and licensing regimes. It almost makes certain that their will be another catastrophe instead of only a potential catastrophe. Unless Hayward and others mean the result won’t happen again and will cooperate in making needed changes in governance and industry. However, such an attitude has never existed. This “never again  attitude” is like a kind of meth which people are allowed distribute every where and only receive love and respect in return. It is time for grown-ups to somehow assert themselves. 

I encourage you to contact the Louisiana Congressional Delegation. Contact information is available at the following link:

http://www.ebr.lib.la.us/reference/pathfinder/louisiana_congressional_delegation.htm

You can also contact your own legislators if you are from elsewhere. That may help a great deal. You cna also contact the White House at the link below.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/04/ground-louisiana

I am just going to mention these things and encourage my readers to work awareness of this spill into their political consciousness.  We must deal with this as a political event as well.  I personally have so much horror in my memory and have had enough nightmares in my life that it is hard for me to muster much emotion for any given crisis. However, if you can honestly express outrage this may be a good time and place to do so. Let people know that the oil spill is a priority for you if it is.  

I also want to mention that there were no oil sightings for coastal Louisiana published this weekend by GOHSEP. Therefore I have published their map of locations,sightings and models for these days at the bottom of this page.  

Protests are going on in many places

****************************************************************

Pelicans Injured & Killed by BP Oil

 

June 5-7 model and projected trajectory

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Posted in Acadians, BP - British Petroleum, Environment, Geopolitics, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Oil & Gas Industry, United States of America, Western civilization, Wetlands, White House

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The BP Oil Spill & Tyranny: Links and Notes

Posted on June 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

I. “If This Be Treason Make the Most of It!”

I will not interpret or attribute the quote above nor even say what it has to do with the horrors and struggle  in the Gulf of Mexico. For me the gusher crisis is the very strong indication that we should have real and radical change. I do not think we are likely to undertake the right changes. However, prior to the spill I had been outlining some ideas for radical change. I believe that the word Tyranny which was once the greek word for a bad monarchhas been changed by usage. The Greeks had a word for a bad aristocracy which we translate as oligarchy now and a word for a bad democracy which was ochlocracy. They could discuss intelligently what a mixed government that combined the rule of the many, few and one would be like when it was rotten. Even though most of there best political sages believed the best government would combine rule of the one, the few and the many.  Other thinkers like Montesquieu also saw that mix as ideal and it is the template of our governance. But I do believe our government has become corrupt as an institution in a way which makes it an institutional tyranny. It is from this base of ideas that I have written many blogs posts about radical political change. These posts propose change. However, while I am not hiding these posts there are too many of these blog posts to link them all to this site. These posts are in this blog and follow the link I am posting just below and the one linked here is a good place to start reading them:

FWST1. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/the-mental-ferment-for-men-and-women-who-might-foment-an-american-revolution-part-one/

I have among these many posts one which describes changes that might be useful to have in effect as this crisis has developed. So it will be out of sequence but will show where the proposed regime had intended to bring the country:

FWST 2. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/the-direct-imperial-government-in-the-new-american-regime-part-two/

While the post describes the inner workings of a proposed regime which is complex and has many parts I think you could read the two posts I have linked from that long series and have some ideas about what a possible regime change might aim to achieve. If it did exist right now then the Imperial Waste Authority (which is purely imaginary right now) might play a vital role.

II.Business  Media Coverage  of the Oil Spill

This catastrophic spill is getting attention even from those who one might argue are the most committed to the status quo. See the Wall Street Journal’s coverage in the link below:

WSJ 1. http://professional.wsj.com/professional-search/search.html?ar=1&dt=4&mf=0&pg=1&ps=25&sb=1&pid=0_0_ES_1000&cnt=&st=3&nfddg=0_0_EA_DeepDive_32|WIZARD_EDITOR_ID|deepdivel1&mod=wsjpro_hphook

WSJ 2. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704764404575285772746839504.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

See also Bloomberg’s Business Week

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-04/hayward-pledges-to-steer-bp-through-crisis-has-board-backing.html

So while none of these people or institutions are advocating radical change as I am they can all see that this is a very serious situation.  We are also in a country which was already in some trouble and had some difficulties which were well-defined before this gusher blew through its controls. Besides those who are making lots of money in business under the current mode of the country’s operations there are also those who are highly motivated to be recognized as being accurate. I have a few links showing the views of such people and institutions seeking to discuss the BP Transocean rig Macondo wellsite Gulf of Mexico Spill:

III. Academic Insight into the Spill

My own undergraduate alma mater:

 UL 1. http://www.louisiana.edu/Advancement/PRNS/news/2010/477.shtml

UL 2. http://www.louisiana.edu/Advancement/PRNS/news/2010/EnvironmentalEffects.pdf

This University of Louisiana has a lot of resources to bring to this discussion that are likely to emerge as the crisis unfolds. They are likely to bring more of those resources to bear as one needs to analyse things in detail. They have expertise in petroleum and wetlands related subjects for example. However, they also have expertise in understanding how the whole complex of cultural and market forces which make up the state’s tourism scene. See this link for that  coverage:

UL. 3 http://www.louisiana.edu/AboutUs/Excellence/CCET.shtml

My own graduate alma mater, Louisiana State University:

LSU 1. http://appl003.lsu.edu/unv002.nsf/9faf000d8eb58d4986256abe00720a51/c8166483d13083bd862577370071fde5?OpenDocument

However, I want to make it very clear that I am referring to none of these people and groups in the Academic because I believe that they advocate cultural change.  All of the people listed above are simply evidence that there are major issues involved in this major event.

The longer the crisis goes on the more there will be discussion of what it all means. The news is still spreading. The ferment of political discontent may grow over time. BP has no certainty about when it can get control of this situation. We are in the throes of a full-blown calamity. The world can see the struggle as well, which I indicated in my last post. I have a sampling of world press coverage of these events which indicates that this spill commands some world attention.

IV. World Press Coverage

See this example of coverage in the China People’s Daily:

WPC 1. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7012683.html

The online version of El Diario from Mexico:

WPC 2. http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=3e3a7ea2c10f01e84a137cfa322f779e

The coverage in the international online periodical Japan Times:

WPC 3. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100605a2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes+(The+Japan+Times%3A+All+Stories

V. American Change Agents

There is a crisis. That much we know and the question becomes is our system creating or worsening the crisis in many ways. I think that it is. I want to explore our political situation within this context.  Now I am leaving behind a review only of the discussion of the BP Gulf of Mexico Spill. I want to discuss those who are looking for change. They do not all seek the same kinds of change and some do not believe they favor any kind of radical change. Yet, the truth is that all of them are seeking change and proposing policy or lifestyles that if they were more successful would remake America. I am listing only groups that I believe are both legitimately American and legitimately responsible groups. 

I think that we can argue that this is a time that demands radical change. I do argue that it is time for radical change. While the regime change that I have proposed earlier in this blog’s posts are my ideas and I do not claim that other American change agents support them I do think it is significant that there are many “American Change Agents” who are not informed by selfishness or hate primarily but pursue differing responsible ideals. So I want to discuss what the options are and why we should consider those options. Of course I would like to see them informing and enriching the vision I have proposed. Together we might reach more successful solutions.

A Sampling of  Other American Change Agents

Catholic Far left with Deep Right Harmonies

ACA 1. http://www.catholicworker.org/communities/index.cfm

Deep Indigenous Right with Left Roots Harmonies

ACA 2. http://www.ncai.org/

American Critical Left 

ACA 3. http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/06/next-deepwater-horizon

Mostly Protestant Activist Left 

ACA 4. http://go.sojo.net/campaign/climate2010

Strident Independent Outside Objectivism

ACA 5. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0604/Louisianans-to-Obama-on-BP-oil-spill-Show-us-we-matter

The Counterrevolutionary Right in Catholic Populist Form

ACA 6. http://www.tfp.org/

Committed Christian Fringe Left

ACA 7. http://mcc.org/

Center Right Patriotic Catholic Voice

ACA 8. http://www.kofc.org/un/eb/en/index.html

This is only a reminder of a group people say is dead — I do not agree.

ACA 9. http://www.royalty.nu/America/Hawaii.html

American Leftist Innovation

ACA 10. http://users.erols.com/ccnv/

Deep British American Centrist Force

ACA 11. http://www.scottishrite.org/

Trying to find and preserve a Confederate Voice

ACA 12. http://www.scv.org/

V. GOHSEP’s Oil Sightings

I would like to end this post as I have the last two posts by simply reproducing what is reported on GOHSEP’s site in terms of daily oil sightings.  They show that we still have not yet reached the worst case scenario but things are not good.

Oil Sightings Report June 4, 2010

Plaquemines:
Sighting: Heavy streamers 5 miles east of Grand Terre Islands
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Sheen near South Monka Island, 7 miles NW of Barataria Bay
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Thick oil in the Lake Washington area, 8 miles NE of Grand Terre Islands
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Sheen with tar balls approximately 1 mile NW of Grand Bank Bayou with stranded wildlife
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Oil south of Bennie’s Pond, 7 miles NE of Pilot town
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: North of Bay Long, the boom around the island is completely saturated and allowing the oil to approach the marsh
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Oil on the rocks off the state park shore
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Oily sheen located at the mouth of Bay Baptiste
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Heavy sheen at Four Bayou Pass, 7 miles NE of Grand Terre Islands
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: 50 yards of saturated hard boom on the bank at Quatre Bayou Pass
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Oil on an island in the eastern portion of Bay Jimmy extending 3 to 4 miles N of the island
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Sheen with tar balls 200 feet wide in Bay Long at Point Chenier Ronquille
Date: 4 Jun 10

Sighting: Heavy oil sheen at Pass Abel, 8 miles E of Jetty South Pass Light
Date: 4 Jun 10

Jefferson Parish:
Sighting: Metallic sheen with tar balls extending from Middle Bank in Barataria Bay to Coupe Abel
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil with sheen at Port Eads, 3 miles W of Grand Terre Islands
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Sheen in water, mile E of Mendicant Island
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil just off rocks, SW side of the Grand Terre Islands
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Heavy oil with streamers, 3 to 4 miles inside Coupe Abel Pass
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil slick with stranded wildlife in the middle of Barataria Bay
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil 2 miles E of Grand Isle with stranded wildlife
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil 1 mile SE of Basa Basa Island
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil 1 mile SE of Grand Terre Island with stranded pelicans
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Sighting: Large tar mat mile SE of Barataria Pass
Date: 4 Jun 10.

Lafourche Parish:
Sighting: Gray sheen ribbons between Snail Bay and St. Joseph Bay 2 miles South East of Little Lake
Date: 4 Jun 10

Terrebonne Parish:
Sighting: 2 miles of containment boom on the shore of Raccoon Island
Date: 4 Jun 10

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Posted in Acadians, BP - British Petroleum, Christianity, Environment, family, Frank W. Summers, Geopolitics, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Oil & Gas Industry, Organizations making change, Royalty and Empire, United States of America, Western civilization, Wetlands, White House

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BP Spill: Environmental Awareness links & questions

Posted on June 4, 2010 | 1 comment

Will there be a system producing the oil and gas before the relief wells are completed, supposedly in August?  Will the relief wells be fully successful early on?  There are so many distressing images coming to us over the spill cam.  For me there is so much of my memories and hopes long ago lost are brought to mind. my own life was already pinched in before this disaster. To understand the freshwater sytem behind the saltwater marshes that are behind the almost lost barrier islands. One can see that there are oil and government scars that are still across Louisiana. This spill is an attack on a struggling set of ecosystems and while they are vital and fertile they are not extremely resilient. So we hope BP gets it capped, will they?  

The Cut and Cap had not succeeded to the fullness of its potential when I posted this blog.  British Petroleum is working its robots all over the wreckage they have tried to clear and clean up. They have a trimmed Blow Out Preventer gushing more oil than ever before and a cap that was lowered down without a riser pipe to collect the oil. In addition the seal certainly seemed to be spewing lots of oil.  I of course am not sure what exactly is going on and I do believe that restoring the barrier islands is important. I have however seen that in the context of a larger system. my idea is described in the next link. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/ideal-wetlands-policy-on-the-louisiana-coast/ 

I hope that I wake up tomorrow to the news that the gusher is capped. However, I probably will not. Even if I did there is already a great deal of oil to deal with.  For me the world was already in a very big mess before this spill and the spill threatens a very strained set of cultures and ecosystems. So I want to look at the spill just as an environmental issue and incident in this post and yet also connect it to the  events and an analysis that have been developing. 

 The situation in the Gulf of Mexico is dire and not likely to get better very soon. I want to use this blog post to discuss this as an ecological and environmental disaster. I will also provide links that discuss this incident from that point of view.  Then I am providing some links and samples from other sources to just give a context and vision of what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Audubon Society has a unique claim to be involved and informed in this struggle.  That is because John James Audubon, the namesake of the society did much of his natural history research and bird painting in Louisiana.

1.http://www.audubonaction.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aa_HowtoHelp

2.http://www.auduboninstitute.org/gulf-oil-spill-resources

Besides the Audubon organizations there are many other major environmental organizations weighing in on the situation. I have located a few major links here as well. No two of these groups have exactly the same perspective.

3.http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenpeaceusa_blog/2010/06/03/the-ixtoc-blowout-31-years-ago-today

4.http://oceansociety.blogspot.com/2010/05/oil-spill-in-gulf-proves-need-for-oil.html

6.http://www.gulfmex.org/director.htm#oil

7.http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/threats/offshore_drilling.php

II. Assessment of the Situation

Besides these organization above that are advocating for various kinds of environmental policy and response there are others in the world trying to report on the situation. I list a few of those in links by home country. These reports are all very different and may offer useful insights into what we can expect different groups and interests to be discussing.

USA

Time has photos of affected wildlife.

1.http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1992275,00.html

New Orleans has a major newspaper covering the situation.

2.http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/bp_places_cap_on_gulf_of_mexic.html

Scientific American Magazine looks at how the Spill could affect the microbes and their role in the Gulf, especially that area called the dead zone. 

3.http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-will-the-oil-spill-impact-dead-zone

The Society of Petroleum Engineers marks  the event and refers visitors to three other sources. See their text.

“Gulf of Mexico spill

The Society of Petroleum Engineers wishes to express its concern for all those impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and support for our colleagues who are working to resolve this situation. Updates on the situation are provided at the following locations: BP, Deepwater Horizon Response and API Gulf spill.”

4. http://www.spe.org/index.php

China

China’s National English Language TV discusses alternate energy policy in light of this spill.

5.http://english.cntv.cn/program/newsupdate/20100603/101270.shtml

United Kingdom

BP reports to the Prime Ministry in London, England.

6.http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7143846.ece

III. GOHSEP Sightings in Louisiana

I have decided to end this post with the GOHSEP report on oil sightings so we can base the rest of the reading and discussion on basic facts about the oil’s landfall.

“Oil Sightings Report June 3, 2010

Plaquemines:
Sighting: Large dark red/brown ribbon of oil southwest of Tiger Pass (north-east to south-west direction).
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Thick brown streamers with rainbow sheen in a one mile area running north to south, 11 miles west of lower Plaquemines Parish.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Two separate lines of oil 1.7 miles due south of the Mississippi River Delta.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Sighted oil in the reeds on the east side of Redfish Bay.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil reported of a mile east of Loumis Bay.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Shoreline impact of oil 0.17 miles south of Grand Bayou Pass.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Small patches of silver sheen 50 – 200 feet in diameter; 18 miles south-east of Mud Lumps Historical Landmark.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Line of emulsification 3.8 miles north-east of Timber Bayou.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Sighting: Heavy black oil one mile long by 350 yards wide in north-west Wreck Bay.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Jefferson Parish:
Sighting: Sheen and spots of heavy oil 200 yards off Shell Island. Beach impact is eminent.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Lafourche Parish:
Sighting: Boom washed up on island of a mile north-west of Hacket Lake.
Date: 3 Jun 10.

Terrebonne Parish:
Sighting: Oil impacted on a small, unnamed island north of Whiskey Island; did not appear fresh and possibly remnants of a previous impact.
Date: 3 Jun 10

Sighting: Patches of light sheen at the intersection of King Lake and Mud Hole Bay.
Date: 3 Jun 10

Sighting: Ribbons of sheen on Bayou Little Caillou near Lake Boudreaux.
Date: 3 Jun 10

Sighting: Light continuous sheen approximately ten yards wide, six miles south-west of Coupe Colin Island.
Date: 3 Jun 10″

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The BP Transocean Gusher’s Risk: Some Links and Notes

Posted on June 3, 2010 | 1 comment

This post is  mostly about the oil spill from the point of view of risk. There is a great deal of risk in this crisis and it is a part of the story which is  something we need to really understand and work out in terms of making sense of these events. It is really important to  understand the parameter of risk for this crisis and for all the related crises that may or may not emerge over time.

Life is pretty damned difficult for lots of people and lots of eco-systems when things are working out within the context of the agreements and arrangements within which life and the economy ordinarily operate. When there is a large and sudden unplanned change it often causes a great deal of harm.  This gusher is a large and unexpected change. But in addition it is just a very bad thing. It is if nothing else a huge waste of valuable oil and gas. Forty days into this crisis it is still gushing out into the Gulf of Mexico. So I want to go through this set of issues related to risk.

Understanding a Salt Water Ecology is Difficult 

One of the things many of us did not like in this crisis is that we feel that the impact and risk were so downplayed and minimized in the early days when this was developing.  It seemed to many of us (how rightly time will tell) that those in charge were not considering the reality of a major gusher in that place.  I first began to deal with this crisis on-line with the following tweet: “BP Oil spill seen from space: old worry- https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/ideal-wetlands-policy-on-the-louisiana-coast/” That tweet was posted on April 27, 2010.  Since then the story and the situation have continued to develop.

I want to start with a link that will give people an idea of how much science, skill and knowledge is required to make an assessment of toxic impacts on the environment.  When I write the word toxic I am including the sticky, choking and smothering qualities of oil besides it direct bio-chemical toxicity. Use this link to get an idea of the field. 

1. http://www.cmast.ncsu.edu/index.php/cals-agriculture-a-life-sciences/physiologicalbehavioral-biotelmetry.html

II. Tourism and Export Dollars as Well as the Natural Treasures

In the case of many Louisiana coastal industries a small relative amount of damage can have a disproportionately huge impact.  appearance of the landscape, taste and health of fish and many other things of similar nature can be very subtle and difficult to measure. Beyond that the nature of the things being marketed is that they react in complex and varied ways to the damage done by oil. Some things will heal and some will deteriorate in an accelerated manner. Determining the likely results requires some accounting for currents, rainfall, winds, acidity in the water and many other factors. 

A. Lodging

People will not choose a less desirable site without some adjustment in real cost most of the time. A minor amount of damage can have a large impact on lodging for fishing and recreation. See this link to understand the lodging industry in Louisiana. 

2.http://www.louisiana-lodging.com/regions/cajun.html

B. Seafood

With seafood there is a great deal to the complexity of how an oil spill can affect things. I hope that we can all look back and see this as a minor incident but it  will take a long time to know for sure. The next few links can educate you a bit about how this real industry really operates. 

3.http://www.louisianaseafood.com/

4.http://www.fishlcba.com/

5.http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/pdfs/license/Certified%20Commercial%20Fishermans%20Form.pdf

6.http://204.196.151.247/oyster/

7.http://204.196.151.247/oyster/

8.http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/pdfs/license/Personalized%20Oyster%20Tag%20Order%20Form.pdf

III. The Lingering Risks of Oil Spills

One of the first things that we have to understand is that this is not likely to be completely cleared up any time soon. The Exxon Valdez experience makes us expect bad effects that will linger and persist. 

9.http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/02/1660593/expert-from-exxon-valdez-accident.html

IV. This Particular Spill and Dealing with It

Much of what I have covered so far is about oil damage as a general thing. Some is about Louisiana’s risk towards all oil spills. Now we want to look at this particular spill and how it is being dealt with and should be dealt with in the exact situation we are all in right now. The next site is the grandfather of all sites on this incident if you want to understand the crisis read through the sites content if you can. 

10.http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931

First Note:  So far the Damage has not Been all that Huge as Far as we Know

The truth is that by almost any measure this has been a relatively modest landfall so far. Even someone like me who is highly committed to the idea that this is a stressed and fragile environment will admit that this has so far not been as catastrophic as it could be. The following text is lifted from GOHSEP’s site. I have my doubts about some of it but I think it is a fairly excellent survey and much better than no source or the average source of measurement. 

“Oil Sightings Report June 2, 2010

Plaquemines:
Sighting: Oil found on mangrove trees in the canals of East Grand Terre near the Grand Bank Bayou area.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Tar balls found scattered in a rip line made up of mostly trash in the south west inlet of Wilkinson Bay.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Boom is washing up on an unnamed island at Grand Island Port in Barataria Bay. There is no oil in the grass but not in the water.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Tar balls found scattered in a rip line at the southern end of Lake Grand Ecaille.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil sheen approximately 40 yards wide by two miles long just outside Baptiste Collet.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Blackish oil slick with some red/brown and foamy areas 4.5 miles east of the Southwest Pass Lighthouse.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Jefferson Parish:
Sighting: Ribbon of sheen with surface foam in Bay Dosgris off of Little Lake.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Grey sheen running approximately mile south down the Barataria Waterway.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Rip line with grey sheen extending approximately 300 yards south of the mouth of Bayou St. Denis in the Barataria Bay Waterway.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Oil found on the mangrove trees in the canals of East Grand Terre at the north east side of Little Bayou Chevreau.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Thick oil found in grass on an island one mile south of Manilla Village.
Date: 2 Jun 10.

Sighting: Small area of grey sheen in north east corner of Hackberry Bay.
Date: 2 Jun 10.”

So while we do not yet know what this spill will amount to in the end we do know what  may be at risk and that risk is hard  to assess. So we have to do something.

Note: Responses and Plans

In this segment I provide some links and a little analysis as to how the response is going and how it may go. There is too much to cover well in a short blog post. The barrier islands are an idea being given attention.

11. http://usace.armylive.dodlive.mil/index.php/2010/06/corps-works-with-interagency-response-team-on-oil-spill/

12.http://www.lacpra.org/

I have seen the development of restored barrier islands in the context of an entire system of renewal as a good idea. My idea for policy is outlined in the post behind the following link.

13. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/ideal-wetlands-policy-on-the-louisiana-coast/

So if you read through all of this I hope that you have a better sense of what is at risk. There will probably be more posts on this subject later.

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Oil Spill and Setbacks: 12 Questions

Posted on June 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

As I write this the saw which BP was using to cut the riser on the blow out preventer has gotten stuck in the pipe a mile down. The first cut was made which was vital but the second cut has been impeded by the saw blade getting stuck. They hop to bring the second saw down or use other instruments to remove the saw and operate the one that is stuck. THIS IS YET ANOTHER SETBACK!

I have a few questions to ask about setbacks. Most are about avoiding future setbacks? :

1. NOAA has been discussing what they are doing now and it is impressive. How will they contribute to the kind of policy infrastructure for the Gulf Coast that we need to build or will we use the structure of government as an excuse not to govern?

2.Has NASA and its enormous infrastructure for fluid and pressure studies been used to design the caps we are about to use to contain this oil? If they have not been used and all works well then I am unable to complain much but I wonder if the first containment dome would have worked if NASA had been consulted as to its design. Can we stop squandering our knowledge wealth?

3.When nesting oiled birds are rescued and their nests are known are the eggs brought to incubators and their chicks raised in zoos so that we a t least preserve an insurance policy outside the wild?

4. I ask the same question as regards nesting turtles — except that the behavior is different. Almost all should have hatched now but if relevant — are we saving at risk eggs in artificial beaches when we find them? 

5.Are we creating at least a small emergency Atlantic Bluefin tuna hatchery to mimic nature in this area and release later?

6.Are we calling in and positioning clean distressed aged slab, shell, gravel and other assets to quickly position in areas where bridges and berms need to be built?    

7. Are we considering the list of designs and inventions we might need for the future even if we are not going to address them now? A few things come to mind:

 a. We could use a speedy starter ship which can get anywhere and start drilling relief wells right away and then be replaced by a compatible long-term drill rig later.

b.We could use a deployable  circular boom system which could surround a site except for gates and keep a high percentage of deep water oil in a circle with a twenty-mile radius from the well site.

c. We could use quick deployment blimp bought in by helicopters and inflated on site in air that would provide integrated sensing, viewing and communications from the first day.

So are we listing thing we would like to have?

8. Have any oral historians been hired to interview those who are involved and impacted when they are not needed to respond so we can have a complete record of these instances and events?

9.Are we building an aviary in the area so we can keep birds nearby until beaches and marshes are clean and then release them to the original sites?

10. Are at least some oiled creatures being tagged so that the future assessments may be made correctly?

11. Have the Audubon Society, the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and other major local environmental institutions been given funds and brought into official response groups?

12. Are specific gravity measurements being made of various emulsion samples so we can better calculate their behavior in the water column?

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Spill Response: So Little, So Late and So Horrible

Posted on June 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

In today’s post I am going to discuss the horrific losses that we find in a world going to hell in a handbasket and how the spill exemplifies this process. Today the BP robots are finishing cutting off the final rubbish around the riser from the Blow Out Preventer, they are then starting to cut off the riser and will try to mount a cap to channel the flow. We will all be pleased if they mount a rising conduit.

Here are some points I want to consider today:

1.  A unique and separate point from all others is that when something of this magnitude happens I am not willing to eliminate the possibility of an act of war, piracy or terrorism by any party until the total investigation has occurred.

Then there are the more systemic points:

2. Had the deductible on the Oil Pollution Act been $100 million instead of $75 million and had the premium been 15 cents a barrel all this time instead of 8 cents  and then a graduated series of co-payments of say 25% to $2 billion, 50% $2-4 billion, 70% from $4 billion to the exhaustion of the fund — had such a sane policy been in force there would be less chance of a disaster and it would have been better managed. BP might find little reason to count most of us their enemies (assuming this is not piracy). This policy might have encouraged the development of clean energy alternatives, safer drilling practices and even a sound coastal policy. I again cite my own proposal. I encourage you to read it if you have not — it predates the crisis: https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/ideal-wetlands-policy-on-the-louisiana-coast/

3. Senator Mary Landrieu (not alone) has long demanded the manifestly fair and necessary revenue sharing by the state had that money been granted we would have had money to invest in coastal restoration.

4.This country is in many ways a tyranny which has betrayed all of its basic constitutional principles and few people have suffered more from that shift than the people of South Louisiana. The structure that have been imposed on the region in so many meanings of the word structure have been really destructive. I know what tyrranical means and so many instances of  tyrannical waste exist that I cannot list them all.

5. I may come out of this as a known enemy of the oil and gas industry. If so then it seems grossly unfair to me and to others like me to be put in that position. Although I have earned money from the wetlands and seafood industries directly I have written about and discussed for pay and for free the oil and gas industry. I also got a few hundred dollars of more or less direct oil exploration money once. It rankles, if  because of many very bad factors I did not choose, I am cast as a foe of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil and gas have always been part of my life and community.

6. This situation is so bad in so many ways that it would take ages to write about how bad it is. The truth is in a vast catalogue of small and large horrors.

7.There is need for radical change. But radical change is usually bad.

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