Gulf Oil Disaster.... long range effects

[JessicaH (imported)]

Sorry Smoothie but your "died young" is urband legend BS.

After the Valdez incident, a large number of the cleanup workers were transient. They traveled there for the work, and then they left, and nobody kept records of where they can be found now. Stating that almost everyone died implies that someone tracked down the 11,000+ workers. Did they? How?

It should be noted that this was seen as a failing in Valdez. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is, for the Gulf cleanup, completing a roster of all cleanup crew members, monitoring workers for health conditions, and (at BP's request), completing an Health Hazard Evaluation of all workers reporting illness, among other things.

The dispersants used in the Valdez incident is a different formula than the ones used in the Gulf.The dispersants used in the Valdez incident and in the Gulf of Mexico both come from the same company and are the same "make" but not "model". The company that creates the dispersant is Nalco, and the brand name is Corexit.

In Alaska, they used Corexit 9580 which is a shoreline cleaner. In the Gulf of Mexico, they used 9500A and then switched to 9527. The EPA required the switch; although 9500A was approved years before, they decided a safer dispersant should be used given the quantities needed in the Gulf. The other alternative was Sea Brat, which does not break down and is toxic to sea life.

Let's say everyone was tracked down, and they are almost all dead. And let's say that the chemical makeup of the dispersants are identical. What was the cause of their deaths?

The dispersants contain the following hazardous ingredients:

- 2-butoxyethanol: In your home, you find this in Windex and Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner.

- Propylene glycol: Found in Avalon Organics hand lotion, Right Guard Sport antiperspirant, and Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe cake mix.

- Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate: Found in Ex-Lax stool softener, De Flea pet shampoo, and Physicians Formula face cream.

It's also "ruoumored" that, "BP will not give them the names of the chemicals that are in the dispersants."

No, because BP does not make the dispersants. When a company makes a chemical like this, they release a full list of the ingredients to the EPA, who regulates its use and decides if it's safe. These are not generally given to the public because they are trade secrets (not unlike anything made with ingredients that is sold to the public or to industries). In this case, there was so much concern that the EPA released the list of ingredients, and Nalco responded by posting a full list on their website. It is not a secret to anyone anymore.

It's also been roumored that "Big Oil" is keeping important information from doctors. The Center for Disease Control provides specific guidance to doctors based on the formulation of each dispersant. And, they all come with material data safety sheets (http://lmrk.org/corexit_9500_uscueg.539287.pdf).

None of this is to say that these chemicals are 100% safe in application. That's why you see the cleanup workers wearing PPE (personal protective equipment, such as gloves, masks, and hazmat suits,). And none of this is to say that the incident isn't terrible and the consequences massive.

There are some important decisions being made right now that affect millions of people and it is important to have the correct information and not spread false information. There should be and immediate "national emphasis program" (NEP) instituted by OSHA on BOP's to ensure this kind of accident doesn't happen again. BP should have the crap fined out of them for shoddy BOP inspections and BOP testers and rebuilders should be regulated and insured (unlike the BOP from the BP rig that was rebuilt in China) so that they have some liability on their safety equipment.

We don't have to destroy an industry and the lives of all those that work or rely on the offshore drilling industry. These are hard working people that pay a lot of taxes and produce energy that we aren't exporting US currency to china or to people that would use that revenue against us.

Hugs, Stacy

"Down on the Bayou"

[moi621 (imported)]

Oh, ain't nature wonderful as to use MY liver to help clean up the mess.

C'mon !

Did the group understand High School Biology or just breeze through?

The most basic part of the food chain has been, poisoned

Not by visible globs of oil but, invisible organics as will become part of the organisms of plankton and on up the food chain. If the plankton can survive it.

Off the Southern California Coast I use to have a great time exploring the intertidal life zones at low tides. It has drastically changed over four decades. Probably because the planktonic embryos of many of the tide pool organisms just cannot survive the "invisible pollution".

These tide pools were so spectacular as to have involved, Steinbeck when he was a Biologist with Ed Ricketts who wrote the textbook of this biological realm. ref. Between Pacific Tides.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Pacific_Tides

Likewise, "Log from the Sea of Cortez".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Log_fr ... _of_Cortez

Cannary Row, by Steinbeck is supposed to be a hybrid character of Ricketts and Steinbeck.

As witnessed with mercury, one cannot poison the bottom of the food chain with impunity.

Moi

BSc Biological Sciences, Magna Cum Laude, + Special Honors

[Sweetpickle (imported)]

BP operates a gas field in colorado. They have removed

the BP logo from their cars and trucks because people

were harassing them. The employees are ashamed to

have people know where they work.

[smoothie (imported)]

http:www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/02/18652514.php - Please post the text as links go stale and the information disappears from the net --FLO--

[JessicaH (imported)]

That story is a regurgitation of and documentery on CNN with Kerry Kennedy who interview a so called "expert". If these claims are true, they are truely horrific! I would just have to see alot more raw data to believe this as being true. I will be researching this and will report data that supports or discredits this story. No agenda, just seeking truth.

I do have to say that there was something in the story that was SO untrue as to make me doubt that anything said is true. It was said "that BP workers are not permitted to see non-BP doctors". As someone who worked closely with healthcare workers that served decon workers, there was absolutly no way that could have happened without ME knowing about it! 99% of the healthcare workers were paramedics employed by Acadiana with strict protocal to transport anyone who needed anything beyond standard first aid to the nearest hospital or life flight if necessary.

I never heard of a "BP Doctor" or any other healthcare professional employed by BP. The only health issues we saw were issues that you'd expect from being in the sun on a decon barge or beach all day with mosquitos and biting flies chasing you.

The most common release agent used by the guys was PES51 which mostly made from orange peel extract. If you wanted to really track health issues, I'd study the guys from Obrien's who were out at the well site in boats and burning the oil on the water.

Also, many of these decon guys are from the very bottom of the labor pool and live hard. Many showed up hung over with little sleep so it wouldn't be a big surprise if many "decon" workers had a little shorter lifespan than the average US citizen.

[smoothie (imported)]

U.S. | Health, Housing, and Public Services

Most Exxon Valdez cleanup workers already dead

by Business insider repost

Friday Jul 2nd, 2010 12:00 PM

Are you sure that you want to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? In a previous article we documented a number of the health dangers from this oil spill that many scientists are warning us of, and now it has been reported on CNN that the vast majority of those who worked to clean up the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are now dead. Yes, you read that correctly. Almost all of them are dead.

In fact, the expert that CNN had on said that the life expectancy for those who worked to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill is only about 51 years. Considering the fact that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is now many times worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster, are you sure you want to volunteer to be on a cleanup crew down there? After all, the American Dream is not to make big bucks for a few months helping BP clean up their mess and then drop dead 20 or 30 years early.

(Bonus: Uncovered BP Document Brags Of Declining Production Costs)

This news clip from CNN is absolutely stunning. If this is even close to true, then why would anyone want to be involved in helping to clean up this oil?....

The truth is that what we have out in the Gulf of Mexico is a "toxic soup" of oil, methane, benzene, hydrogen sulfide, other toxic gases and very poisonous chemical dispersants such as Corexit 9500.

Breathing all of this stuff is not good for your health, but the reality is that the true health toll of this oil spill is not going to be known for decades.

However, the early reports are not encouraging....

*Already, a large number of workers cleaning up the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico report that they are suffering from flu-like symptoms.

*According to another new report, exposure to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in 162 cases of illnesses reported to the Louisiana state health department.

*In addition, according to one local Pensacola news source, "400 people have sought medical care for upper or lower respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, and eye irritation after trips to Escambia County beaches."

This is going to be something that we all want to keep a very close eye on.

But it is not just oil spill cleanup workers and people who have gone to the beach who are reporting health issues. The following is a report from a reader named Dee....

My 2 friends and I have been sick with headaches and vomiting, also it feels like heartburn, just feeling lousy. We have not been to the Gulf but there is an inlet at the end of our street. We live on the West side of Pensacola FL. near the Bayou. At first I thought it was just me. My 2 friends are having the same symptoms, all at the same time. Right now I have a dull headache, and my stomach is queasy. I have been thinking maybe the chemicals from the oil cleanup or the oil itself is causing us to be ill. It has been raining all day off and on. I started feeling ill late last night. I was wondering if anyone else in Pensacola have the same symptoms.

So what can we conclude from all this?

Well, it is still very early, but when this crisis is all said and done the biggest tragedy of all might be the health devastation that this oil spill has caused.

If the Exxon Valdez oil spill is any indication, a lot of pe0ple are going to end up dying early deaths.

So once again, do you really want to go down there and clean up this oil?

Of course all of this oil is not just going to clean itself up.

But if we all refuse to participate, who will clean it up?

Perhaps BP CEO Tony Heyward and other high ranking BP executives could roll up their sleeves and go down there and start cleaning up all of that toxic sludge.

It's their mess, so let them clean it.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/warning- ... z0sYM3tXae

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[smoothie (imported)]

..Gulf oil spill: Why raise the faulty blowout preventer? It's evidence.

EmailPrint..By Mark Clayton Mark Clayton – Fri Aug 20, 6:37 pm ET

The 450-ton blowout preventer resting a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is set to become Exhibit A in a Justice Department investigation into what caused the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 men, sinking the platform, and resulting in the biggest oil spill in US history.

Preparations are under way for the massive blowout preventer stack of valves – a unit taller than a school bus is long – to be brought to the surface. The piece of equipment, says Robert Bea, a former engineer for Shell Oil who is now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is "a key part of the crime scene."

Since the disaster began in April, the public has been bombarded with detailed explanations about how the "shear ram" valve on the blowout preventer (BOP) was supposed to slice through the drill pipe in an emergency and shut off the well. That it failed is clear enough.

IN PICTURES: The Gulf oil spill's impact on nature

But why it failed remains anything but clear. All the digging through documents, all the mountains of testimony before Congress and federal panels have led only to conjecture about possible causes of failure. Careful dissection of the BOP and a look inside the steel jaws that did not close now appear to be the only ways to learn what happened.

"The BOP is this key piece of physical evidence – perhaps the last best hope for putting the pieces of the puzzle of the Deepwater Horizon together," says John Rogers Smith, associate professor of petroleum engineering at Louisiana State University.

Thad Allen, the Gulf national incident commander, on Thursday gave the go-ahead for BP and Transocean, the drill rig operator, to replace the Deepwater Horizon's BOP with another and to bring the failed unit to the surface. But he warned BP that the BOP must be treated carefully to preserve evidence.

"Each procedure should recognize and preserve the forensic and evidentiary value of the BOP and any material removed from the BOP," he wrote in Thursday's directive to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley. Along those lines, Justice Department investigators are now hunting for blowout preventer specialists who could conduct a forensic examination of the unit, one source told the Monitor.

The BOP may be the last best chance to find a "smoking gun" that tells investigators whether the blowout was a result of human error, mechanical failure, bad maintenance, faulty procedures – or a combination of those, industry experts say.

"Looking carefully at that BOP is going to be critical to understanding what happened," agrees Adam Bourgoyne, a BOP expert and former dean of the College of Engineering at Louisiana State University. "With it, you're going to be able to analyze a lot about what happened just prior to the explosion."

For instance, there's the question of whether the BOP was opened and closed multiple times in the confusion of the blowout after high-pressure gas started shooting across the deck of the Deepwater Horizon rig. That might explain why, in video images, two pieces of pipe appeared to be sticking out of the top of the BOP. If the unit makes it to the surface with the pipe still inside it, part of the mystery could be solved.

"The BOP could have closed, once shut off at the sea floor," he explains. "But with all the expanding oil and gas still flowing to the surface a mile above, there could have been confusion aboard the rig over whether it actually closed or not – and the operators might have tried it again."

Dan Albers, a petroleum engineer and member of the Deepwater Horizon Study Group at UC Berkeley, says the BOP could help answer questions about a major theory concerning the device's malfunction.

If oil and gas shot up the gap, or "annulus," between the rock and the drill casing (a steel pipe just over nine inches wide), it could have lifted that large-diameter pipe and jammed it up into the vicinity of the BOP shear rams. BP never installed the casing hanger lockdown device, Mr. Albers says. If that happened, it would have made it impossible for the blind rams to close.

"This still doesn't answer the questions as to why the other BOP devices didn't activate," he writes in an e-mail. "These I relate to electro hydraulic control problems caused when the well blew out and the fire ensued destroying the control system."

Getting the BOP to the surface intact is key to determining whether such theories hold water, Dr. Bea writes in an e-mail interview.

"If the salvage of the BOP and the previous 'activities' have not destroyed the evidence that would confirm that the casing was shoved upward, then we would have one most plausible scenario in the drilling that led to the blowout," he says.

Mr. Allen said Thursday that BP had been directed to flush out the current blowout preventer and capping stack, clean it, and fill it with sea water. After that would come pressure tests. If those tests show the cement cap is holding, then the BOP could be removed and replaced by another BOP now being used by the second relief well from the Development Driller II rig. This process is expected to take place the week after Labor Day.

The main reason for doing this, Allen said, is to put the best possible BOP on the well in advance of pumping heavy mud into the bottom of BP's Macondo well through the adjacent primary relief well. It's a safeguard just in case any weaknesses remain in the concrete cap already put in place from the top last month.

While the tests go on, drilling of the relief well has been halted just 50 feet above and three feet to the side of the main well. This is being done out of "an overabundance of caution related to minimizing risk associated with the intersection of the well," Allen told reporters.

That said, each step would also be viewed through another lens: court. To that end, he said, the BOP would be protected.

"We do not want to have damage to that blowout preventer if we can avoid it," Allen said, "because it's going to be material evidence to exactly what happened during the event itself."

IN PICTURES: The Gulf oil spill's impact on nature