This video from the USA says about itself:
Native American Tribe faces the BP Oil Spill
The Atakapa Ishak tribe of coastal Louisiana has inhabited the region for time without number. In the 21st century they still maintain a lifestyle and culture that is inherited from their ancestors. Now, in the wake of the BP Oil Spill, they struggle to keep their identity and their way of life.
USA: The findings of the White House commission into the BP oil spill are a cover-up of BP’s culpability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to Rick Steiner, a biologist specializing in oil spills: here.
United States: BP’s ‘cure’ is killing in the Gulf: here.
Where Is The Gulf Oil? In The Food Web, Says Study; ‘Shadows’ Of Spill Appear In The Bodies Of Plankton: here.
A large number of BP’s pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope are severely corroded and in danger of rupturing, an internal BP maintenance report obtained by investigative journalism group ProPublica, revealed on November 2: here.
Why An Arctic Oil Spill Would Be Really, Really Bad: here.
Almost everyone can agree that, however bad the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was, a major spill in an icy Arctic sea would be worse. How much worse? A new report commissioned by the Pew Environment Group tries to examine that question, and the answer is: Get ready for a cleanup that could take years: here.
November 2010: Communities of dead and dying corals and starfish-like brittle stars have been discovered near the Deep Water Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico: here.
Gulf Spill Linked to BP’s Lack of ‘Discipline’. Engineers’ Report Blames Oil Giant for Failing to Ensure That Safety Trumped Cost; Regulators’ Technical Acumen Is Panned: here. And here.
A new report on the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster provides new evidence of negligence on the part of BP: here.
Olivia has drawn pictures of birds and raised $150,000. for Audubon to help with efforts to clean up birds soaked in oil in the Gulf. So far the counted number of birds who have died is 8,000, but the actual number is much higher because off shore birds may have died in the thousands without our knowing about it. Then there are the sea turtles, the dolphins, the many many nesting grounds: here.
Deepwater corals dead and dying; Gulf oil spill to blame: here.
Campaign group Greenpeace filed papers with the High Court in London today in a bid to stop offshore drilling in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster: here.
The Arctic Drilling We Might Start Doing Is Much Riskier Than Gulf Drilling: here.
Washington – Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that the United States is filing a lawsuit against BP and its partners in the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico claiming their negligence led to the massive spill that sent millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf during the spring and summer: here.
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: “Just 18 months before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum (BP) evacuated 211 platform workers from a BP platform in the Caspian Sea after an undersea well blowout caused a potentially explosive gas leak, according to US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Wikileaks released cables detailing the 2008 BP platform blowout off the coast of Azerbaijan just hours after the US Department of Justice announced a civil lawsuit against BP for contaminating the Gulf of Mexico with millions of gallons of oil”: here.
Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours: here.
Records Show Concerns About Another BP Rig: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Oil spill still poisoning wildlife years later, native band charges
MARK HUME
VANCOUVER — From Friday’s Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010 9:23PM EST
Last updated Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010 10:26PM EST
Eight years ago, a pipeline ruptured in a remote section of northeastern British Columbia, spilling a thick, viscous mixture of more than 1,000 barrels of oil and saltwater into a boggy area near Doig River.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. moved quickly on the West Peejay spill and later won praise for following “all the proper procedures.” But long after officials signed off on the cleanup, hunters from the small Doig River band began returning with troubling reports that moose, caribou and other wildlife were being drawn to the location, and to other abandoned oil and gas sites in the region, to lick salty, polluted soil.
Then stories started to spread through northern villages of hunters finding moose that had “green meat” – swollen, black intestines and possible tumors.
Now the B.C. government and industry are taking a hard second look at the area, amid growing demands from natives to fence off or clean up sites that may have become dangerous salt licks for animals.
The issue is the focus of a documentary report by senior producer Kelvin Redvers, to be aired Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific Time, on CTV British Columbia’s First Story. It will be posted on the web at http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/firststory/.
Kelvin Davis, a 55-year-old member of the Doig River band, says he first began to suspect there was trouble several years ago when he noticed moose were growing thin. Then he stuck a knife in one he’d just shot, opened the body cavity and flinched at what he saw.
“The long intestine is thick, it’s not healthy. It looks like there are bumps and water and black and really it looks awful,” he said, recalling the summer hunt that was supposed to provide his family with fresh meat.
Mr. Davis, a former chief, said he left that moose to rot in the bush and knows of others who have done the same thing, with some saying they found green meat, or yellow-green lumps under the skin.
“When we come upon a moose in that condition we don’t want to eat it,” he said. “Back in the day before this whole development started … the moose were fat … the lungs and intestines nice and healthy.”
Mr. Davis is convinced there is a link between the sick moose and old industrial sites spotted throughout the area where oil and salty water residues have created salt licks. The worst site, he said, is at West Peejay, about 140 kilometres north of Fort St. John, where one of the 11 hectares tainted by the 2002 spill has been fenced, leaving the rest open to wildlife.
Jane Calvert, land manager for the Doig River band, said there have been reports of moose, caribou and waterfowl using the West Peejay site. “We brought this up as a concern to the company. They are really not taking this seriously… they say well, we’ll go back to the site and do more studies,” she said.
Chris Maundrell, a biologist whose consulting firm, Adlard Environmental Ltd., did a 2008 Health Canada study on contaminants in moose in the region, said native people in B.C.’s busy northeast oil and gas sector do have reason for concern, though the extent of risk is unclear.
“Every community I talked to had people that had taken down a moose and when they opened it up decided they would leave the moose where it was at because they felt the meat was unhealthy,” he said. “Unfortunately, those particular moose they harvested and decided to leave behind, they never took any tissue samples in, so they were never analyzed to see if they met any of the contaminated levels by Health Canada, or to see just what the toxin was,” said Mr. Maundrell.
He harvested 20 moose, half of them taken in a region with oil and gas wells and half in a pristine control area, and found those near industrial sites “had significantly higher levels of heavy metal concentrations.”
But Mr. Maundrell said the levels did not pose a human health concern, and more research needs to be done before any conclusions can be drawn about the source of the heavy metals.
“We didn’t actually find a link to hydrocarbons in that study, we found what would be called anecdotal information that suggested there could be a problem, but it was not a defined link,” he said, adding that his study has not been followed up.
The B.C. Ministry of Environment stated in an e-mail that Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has been instructed to take additional steps at the West Peejay site.
“Spills such as this can take years to remediate, however, the Ministry of Environment has become concerned that the clean-up is taking too long and has made this site a higher priority,” it states. “The ministry has … recently directed the company to improve its fencing around the contaminated area to keep wildlife out.”
The Ministry also said an expert will be hired “to assess if there is any risk to wildlife, including caribou.”
In 2004, Iris Environmental Systems Inc., did a report for the Doig River band, in which it confirmed that “caribou were indeed using the site and ingesting the soil.” The report states that “CNRL has followed all of the proper procedures … [and is] committed to ensuring that site remediation is continued and effective.”
Bill Clapperton, vice-president, regulatory, stakeholder and environmental affairs for CNR Ltd., said his company became aware the Doig River band had ongoing concerns only last year. He said the company had responded quickly when the spill hit, but cleaning up is a long, slow process.
“Well, obviously it is a terrible thing having a spill, very unfortunate, but the process we’ve determined, along with the regulator, is to do an in situ cleanup,” he said. “What that means is that we’ve got drainage systems set up in there to have the [oily water] collect over time and remediate that way, and you actually minimize the amount of material you have to take to a landfill.”
Mr. Clapperton said the site wasn’t fenced initially because “we had determined, with a third-party consultant, that the wildlife wasn’t at risk.”
He said since the Doig River band raised the issue last year, the company has hired a contractor to fence the entire site, but “we’re still waiting on the land department in Doig River to approve the fencing.”
On the broader issue of wildlife feeding on polluted, salty soils around well sites and sumps, Mr. Clapperton said the oil and gas industry is grappling with the problem throughout northeastern B.C.
“I know that’s been a concern for a number of years in B.C.,” he said. “Our group takes those concerns seriously and [we] have plans in place to address all those sites at risk to wildlife.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/oil-spill-still-poisoning-wildlife-years-later-native-band-charges/article1795967/?cmpid=rss1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+Latest+News%29
LikeLike
BP’s list of unpaid bills growing
BP’s list of unpaid bills is growing. FOX 8 has learned not only does the company owe money to St. Bernard Parish, but two more contractors, as well, Loupe Construction and Consulting and TKO Catering. The parish says between the three, BP is behind at least $62 million.
Meantime, boat captains and supervisors working out of Plaquemines Parish for one of BP’s largest contractors in the oil spill cleanup say they never got paid Friday, and it’s the second time in a month.
DRC spokesperson Paula Pendarvis said the company will pay those workers when BP pays them. A source close to the contractor says DRC is owed $50 million for work already completed in Plaquemines Parish and $35 million in Jefferson Parish.
Several hundred workers involved in oil spill cleanup in Plaquemines alone are now out of a job. “We’re going to have to go file for the unemployment you know.. that’ll be my next step.. file for unemployment,” said Reginald Osborne of Belle Chasse.
Osborne and more than 100 other DRC hourly workers waited outside the company’s Belle Chasse field office for their final paychecks.
“Now they telling me we need to sign this here because they don’t want me to sue them.. So I have no check,” said Wanda Lane of Belle Chasse. Buras resident Alex George said, “they holding peoples checks hostage here. I think it is very, very unfair. I have never been in a situation where I had to sign a waiver to get my check.” DRC says the waiver is standard business, acknowledging that workers are not owed any more money.
Osborne said six months ago he was making $25 an hour, but recently, that rate changed, he said dramatically. Some workers say they were told if they agreed to a lower pay rate of $14.23 an hour they could have work for at least the next six months, but last Friday, DRC’s relationship with BP fell apart. DRC said BP terminated its contract.
“Their head people at DRC went to Texas to sign a new contract, which they made us sign a new contract, and then the next day they’re fired. How could you sign a new contract and then the whole contract is cancelled,” asked Osborne.
Pendarvis said, “we’ve made a lot of cost concessions over the length of the contract, and we offered to cut again, but somebody else cut even further.”
Now the fear is the work that’s left is going to out-of-towners. Osborne said, “they’re coming from Alabama. They’re coming from Alaska, Florida, Texas, Georgia.”
“We the ones from here. This is our backyard, not theirs. Why the local people can’t do it,” asked Stanley Hebert of Belle Chasse.
The men and women who’ve been charged with laying boom and vacuuming oil that got into marshland say the cleanup effort is far from over. “They have so much work out there. It’s unbelievable,” said Lane. Rocky Barrois of Venice said, “I found a big spot of oil on the beach we was cleaning up, and I was told by one of the safety inspectors to stop finding new oil that they had to put an end to this .. it was getting overwhelming.”
DRC said it’s meeting with BP in Houston Monday to talk about the tens of millions of dollars in back pay.
For two days FOX 8 has tried to reach BP for comment. So far, BP has not returned our calls.
http://www.fox8live.com/news/local/story/BP-s-list-of-unpaid-bills-growing/jlPC1mJ8D0K-4bBAIx4k1Q.cspx
LikeLike
Pingback: BP covered up another pollution scandal | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: BP bans Louisiana fishing folk from meeting | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: BP destroys the environment | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Chevron Amazon polluters fined | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: BP pays United States anti-climate science senator | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Australian oil spill whitewash | Dear Kitty. Some blog