Are GULF FISHERMAN And Cleanup Workers Getting Sick From BP Disaster?

 People are being made sick in the Gulf because of the unprecedented release of oil and toxic chemicals from this past summer in response to BP's disaster, according to the article below. Apparently, they can have headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pains, chest pains and many other problems. These health issues sound like a potential long-term problem for BP.
    . . . June

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BP being blamed for fisherman and cleanup workers getting sick
New Orleans Environmental Health | Examiner.com:

James Miller, a commercial shrimper, lifelong fisherman in Mississippi and former BP oil response worker, is horribly sick.

'I've been vomiting, my head feels like it's going to explode, diarrhoea, and I keep passing out,' Miller, who worked in BP's so-called Vessels of Opportunity (VOO) oil response programme, said from his bed at Biloxi Regional Hospital on November 5.

A couple days before he got sick, James, his wife, and their dog was boating in the Gulf of Mexico, and all three of them got ill. They started showing symptoms of illness that evening.

It is not only the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico but also the dispersant used in the cleanup that is causing people to become ill.

"The dispersants used in BP's draconian experiment contain solvents such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol," Dr. Riki Ott, a toxicologist, marine biologist and Exxon Valdez survivor, said. "People are being made sick in the Gulf because of the unprecedented release of oil and toxic chemicals from this past summer in response to BP's disaster."

Pathways of exposure to the dispersants are inhalation, ingestion, skin and eye contact. Health impacts include headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitisation, hypertension, central nervous system (CNS) depression, neurotoxic effects, cardiac arrhythmia and cardiovascular damage. The chemicals are also teratogenic, mutagenic and carcinogenic.

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BP may have almost finished some of the required cleanups, but apparently they still have some very serious ongoing responsibilities. Please comment.


June


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BP Oil Spill Produces First FRAUD CASE

It was almost inevitable that fraud would emerge from this process and it has. According to the article below, federal prosecutors filed the first spill-related criminal charges this week. Claims Administrator Kenneth Feinberg says, "If eligible claimants or the public believe that the program is ripe for fraud, we'll receive claims without merit that tie up the system, that divert badly needed funds from worthy victims to criminals, and the entire program will suffer
     June

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First fraud case emerges from BP oil spill
- USATODAY.com:

After fielding hundreds of fraud complaints from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, federal prosecutors filed the first spill-related criminal charges this week against a North Carolina woman whom they allege pretended to be an unemployed oyster shucker to claim lost wages.

The National Center for Disaster Fraud in Baton Rouge has logged about 1,000 complaints since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico, says U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who oversees the center.

The complaints have led to hundreds of investigations into businesses demanding advance fees to help oil spill victims file claims or train for oil spill cleanup jobs, and into dubious charities soliciting donations to rescue wildlife or restore Gulf Coast habitat, Letten says.

"With the increasing number of cases under investigation, there will be charges coming down the road," he says. "We know there are viable investigations out there."

Fraud hurts the credibility of the Gulf Coast claims process, claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg says.

"If eligible claimants or the public believe that the program is ripe for fraud, we'll receive claims without merit that tie up the system, that divert badly needed funds from worthy victims to criminals, and the entire program will suffer," Feinberg says. "There are scores of suspicious claims that we have sent or are sending to the Department of Justice."

Read entire article

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Gulf Oil Drilling OPEN FOR BUSINESS As Region Suffers

The Obama administration announced last week that the deep waters of the Gulf are again open for drilling, according to the following article. Obviously, the BP oil disaster is continuing and will have lasting effects on the environment and the people of the Gulf region. People in the fishing industry are still out of work, the effects on wildlife have not been fully assessed, the safety of our seafood is still in question. There will be questions for generations and more expenses for BP.
     . . . .  June

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Gulf reopen for drilling as region suffers
CNN.com:

New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Last week, the Obama administration announced that the deep waters of the Gulf are again open for drilling. That the BP oil disaster is continuing and will have lasting effects is unacknowledged.

The BP disaster was the largest oil catastrophe the country has ever seen, and the Gulf of Mexico and our communities have a long road to recovery.

Our friends in the fishing industry are still out of work, the effects of the spill on wildlife have not been fully assessed, the safety of our seafood is still in question and entire cultures are barely hanging on.

The administration says new rules and regulations will make deepwater oil drilling safer.

Although we welcome the new rules, we believe that they do not go far enough. There is little assurance that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, charged with enforcement, has the resources to hold the industry accountable.
 
Gulf Restoration Network believes further steps must be taken immediately to ensure the safety of oil drilling in deep off-shore waters. The government and the public need to stay focused on the disaster and environmental impacts that are just beginning to play out, continue to hold BP accountable and act to make sure this never happens again.

We hope the Obama administration approaches continued cleanup, regulatory reform and damage mitigation, none of which is even close to being accomplished, with the same urgency it has shown in efforts to reopen the Gulf to deepwater drilling.


BP's spill is only the latest and most visible evidence of the oil and gas industry's ongoing environmental destruction in the Gulf.

Read entire article

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Slow Payout of BP claims blamed on FRAUD!

 Apparently, there's a reason why compensation for DP claims is so slow. According to the following article, many of the claims are poorly documented, not documented at all or outright fraud. I can see how a documentation problem could  happen with small fishermen and shrimpers who probably make a minimum income anyway and don't keep much paperwork. What a mess!
    . . . June


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Leader on BP claims blames fraud for slow payouts
Yahoo! News: "By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff,

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – BP's $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill has been inundated with inflated or unsupported claims and in some cases, outright fraud — all slowing down the process of getting money to people who need and deserve it, the administrator of the program says.

Kenneth Feinberg said more than a third of the roughly 104,000 applicants need to do more to back up their claims, and thousands of claims have no documentation at all. He added that the amount sought in some cases bears no resemblance to actual losses, such as a fisherman's claim for $10 million 'on what was obviously a legitimate claim of a few thousand dollars.'

"People can put down on a claims form all sorts of numbers," he said.

At the same time, hundreds of claims that were initially denied have been accepted as Feinberg adjusts rules for compensation, such as whether people need to be physically close to the spill to get paid.

"At the beginning, it's always rough," said Feinberg, an attorney who previously oversaw claims for 9/11 victims. "Hopefully, by the end of this program, people will feel that the fund treated them fairly."

Many claimants are still waiting for checks from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which is doling out BP's money to oil spill victims. The Associated Press interviewed dozens who say they have received small fractions of the compensation they requested. Claims have been bogged down by the sheer volume of requests for money as livelihoods have crumbled since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil over about three months.

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Deep Water Horizon Sealed Shut but BP Still On The Hook

The five month long ordeal that leaked close to five million barrels of oil into the gulf may be officially over, but not for the rig’s owner. The deep water horizon oil well is sealed shut for good now but the cleanup and the expense still go on. Lawsuits will abound and according to the article below, ultimately the court of public opinion may determine more of the company's forward success than a court of law.
   . . . June


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Oil spill cleanup: After digging deep to kill well, BP faces long climb
CSMonitor.com:

The final relief well 'kill' – performed 18,000 feet below the sea floor – provided little more than a symbolic end to a summer-long disaster that put the Gulf oil industry, resort towns, and fishing communities in the grip of a crude-infused calamity that reopened wounds from hurricane Katrina five years earlier.

To be sure, troubling questions remain about the amount of oil left in Gulf waters, its impact on the complex coastal biology of the region, and the long-term economic effects of a six-month drilling ban and the 20 percent premium that explorers now expect to have to pay to drill new wells in the Gulf because of drilling delays and insurance rate hikes.

Despite a loss of nearly one-third of its stock value (or $70 billion) since the spill began, BP will endure in the Gulf, where untapped deep-water deposits shape its future as an oil company. But given the overall hit to its corporate reputation and stock price, and after a series of PR blunders under former chief Tony Hayward, BP knows it must build a new image, much as Exxon did after the Valdez disaster in 1989. And with deeds, not words.

"This is ultimately a story about corporate reputation and corporate liability," says James O'Rourke, a management professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "Clearly, the litigators want everybody to shut up and say nothing and then fight the battle in court. But ultimately the court of public opinion may determine more of the company's forward success than a court of law."
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Thick Layer Of Oil On Seafloor in Gulf Of Mexico

According to the article below, they are finding oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles.This discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn't simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the seafloor. It's very clearly a fresh layer. Oh My!

    . . . June


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Scientists Find Thick Layer Of Oil On Seafloor


NPR:   September 10, 2010

Scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico are finding a substantial layer of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions. Their discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn't simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the seafloor.

The Research Vessel Oceanus sailed on Aug. 21 on a mission to figure out what happened to the more than 4 million barrels of oil that gushed into the water. Onboard, Samantha Joye, a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, says she suddenly has a pretty good idea about where a lot of it ended up. It's showing up in samples of the seafloor, between the well site and the coast.

"I've collected literally hundreds of sediment cores from the Gulf of Mexico, including around this area. And I've never seen anything like this," she said in an interview via satellite phone from the boat.

Joye describes seeing layers of oily material — in some places more than 2 inches thick — covering the bottom of the seafloor.

"It's very fluffy and porous. And there are little tar balls in there you can see that look like microscopic cauliflower heads," she says.

It's very clearly a fresh layer. Right below it she finds much more typical seafloor mud. And in that layer, she finds recently dead shrimp, worms and other invertebrates.

Read More . . .

$10 million for Study of Oil Spill Health Issues - BP

 BP are getting hit with more expenses again. This time to study health-related issues with regard to the gulf coast oil spill. I guess they have so many long-term commitments there that it'll be many many years before they can put it behind them.
   . . . June


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BP provides $10 million for a study of health issues related to Gulf oil spill

WireUpdate Local | Local Breaking News | Local Breaking Wire

HOUSTON, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) – BP on Tuesday announced that it will provide $10 million to support a study of public health issues related to the Gulf oil spill and other related health research.

The fund will be awarded to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under its Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI), a 10-year, $500 million independent research program established by BP to better understand and mitigate the environmental and potential health effects of the Gulf oil spill.

BP provided the funds to expedite work in support of the research priorities identified at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) workshop commissioned by the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and included in the IOM report "Assessing the Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Human Health," released last August 10.

With the funding, NIH will be able to build on efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Unified Command. It is also intended to support the immediate needs of researchers in understanding potential acute and long-term health impacts of exposures to oil, dispersed oil and dispersants

Read on . . .

Safety Board Starts BP Spill Probe

 Now that oil is no longer spilling into the gulf, it's time to delve into the broader issues, such as safety and regulations. According to this article in the Houston Chronicle, investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board start their investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident. It is essential that safety is assured for future platforms if off-shore drilling is to continue.
   . . . June

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Safety board ventures offshore for BP spill probe
Energy | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: 

As emergency crews responded to the fire on a Mariner Energy platform Thursday, investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board stood on the deck of a drilling rig 200 miles to the east, starting their investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident.

Investigators with the federal agency, better known for looking at the causes of accidents at chemical plants and refineries, will be based in Texas for the next month, looking into the April 20 drilling rig blowout that killed 11 and spilled almost 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Earlier this week the team attended an offshore safety conference at Texas A&M University and on Thursday flew out to Transocean's Development Driller III, the rig drilling the relief well that soon should intercept BP's Macondo well and seal it for good.

No oil has spilled from the well since workers put a cap on the wellhead July 15.

Don Holmstrom, CSB's lead investigator, said his team isn't looking at emergency response issues or spill cleanup, but causes behind the blowout itself.

This includes meeting with the internal investigation teams from BP, which held the federal lease where the well was drilled; Transocean, which owned and operated the rig; and other companies involved, looking at documents filed in ongoing investigations and interviewing witnesses.

"We will also be looking at broader issues like regulatory enforcement safety metrics, the focus on preventing catastrophic accidents versus focusing on issues such as personal safety, and BP's safety culture," Holmstrom said.

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