Monthly Archives: August 2010
On August 19th, Truthout accompanied two commercial fishermen from Mississippi on a trip into the Mississippi Sound in order to test for the presence of submerged oil. James “Catfish” Miller and Mark Stewart, both lifelong fishermen, have refused to trawl for shrimp because they believe the Mississippi Sound contains submerged oil. Laboratory test results from samples taken on that trip show extremely high concentrations of oil in the Mississippi Sound. The State of Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) opened all of its territorial waters to fishing on August 6. This was done in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Food and Drug Administration, despite…read more »
OCEAN SPRINGS, United States – Another massive fish kill, this time in Louisiana, has alarmed scientists, fishermen, and environmentalists who believe they are caused by oil and dispersants. On August 22 St. Bernard Parish authorities reported a huge fish kill at the mouth of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. “By our estimates there were thousands, and I’m talking about 5,000 to 15,000 dead fish,” St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro told reporters, “Different species were found dead including crabs, sting rays, eel, drum, speckled trout, red fish, you name it, included in that kill.” The next day, a thick, orange substance with tar balls and a “strong diesel smell” was…read more »
The scene is post-apocalyptic. Under a grey sky, two families play in the surf just off the beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana. To get to the beach, we walk past a red, plastic barrier fence that until very recently was there to keep people away from the oil-soaked area. Now, there are a few openings that beach goers can use. The fence is left largely intact, I presume, for when they will need to close the beach again when the next invasion of BP’s oil occurs. A father jokingly throws sand at his little boy who laughs while dodging it. This, against a background of oilrigs and platforms looming in…read more »
BILOXI, Mississippi – The U.S. state of Mississippi recently reopened all of its fishing areas. The problem is that commercial shrimpers refuse to trawl because they fear the toxicity of the waters and marine life due to the BP oil disaster. “We come out and catch all our Mississippi oysters right here,” James “Catfish” Miller, a commercial shrimper in Mississippi, told IPS. Pointing to the area in the Mississippi Sound from his shrimp boat, he added, “It’s the only place in Mississippi to catch oysters, and there is oil and dispersants all over the top of it.” On Aug. 6, Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the Mississippi Department…read more »
The rampant use of toxic dispersants, out of state private contractors being brought in to spray them, and US Coast Guard complicity are common stories now in the four states most affected by BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Commercial and Charter Fishermen, residents, and members of BP’s Vessels Of Opportunity (VOO) program in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have spoken with Truthout about their witnessing all of these incidents. Toxic Dispersants Found on recently opened Mississippi Shrimping and Oyster Grounds On Monday, August 9, the director of the State of Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR), Bill Walker, despite ongoing reports of tar balls, oil, and dispersants being found…read more »
Commercial Fishing communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida have united to demand that local, state, and federal agencies force BP to discontinue the use of toxic dispersants and conduct better testing before reopening fishing waters. “We need to get our government to get a handle on this situation and shut down our fishing waters until they test for dispersants, and get the use of dispersants stopped unless they can prove to us they are not harmful,” Kathy Birren, a spokesperson for commercial fishermen in Florida, told Truthout, “We are seeing fish kills. They [US Government and BP] are covering this all up.” Since the BP oil disaster began in…read more »
Since BP announced that CEO Tony Hayward would receive a multi-million dollar golden parachute and be replaced by Bob Dudley, we have witnessed an incredibly broad, and powerful, propaganda campaign. A campaign that peaked this week with the US government, clearly acting in BP’s best interests, itself announcing, via outlets willing to allow themselves to be used to transfer the propaganda, like the New York Times, this message: “The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem…read more »
While the devastating ecological impacts of BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are obvious, the less visible but also long-lasting psychological, community, and personal impacts could be worse, according to social scientists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. “People are becoming more and more hopeless and feeling helpless,” Dr. Arwen Podesta, a psychiatrist at Tulane University in New Orleans told Truthout, “They are feeling frantic and overwhelmed. This is worse than [Hurricane] Katrina. There is already more post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more problems with domestic violence, threats of suicide, and alcohol and drugs.” Dr. Podesta, who also works in addiction clinics and hospitals said, “It’s a remarkably similar experience to…read more »
GULFPORT, United States – Contrary to recent media reports of a quick recovery in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists and biologists are “deeply concerned” about impacts that will likely span “several decades.” “My prediction is that we will be dealing with the impacts of this spill for several decades to come and it will outlive me,” Dr. Ed Cake, a Biological Oceanographer, as well as a Marine and Oyster Biologist, told IPS, “I won’t be here to see the recovery.” Dr. Cake’s grim assessment stems partially from a comparison he made to the Exxon Valdez oil disaster and the second largest oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (BP’s being…read more »
By Rachael Hanley (NMH Magazine, August 2010) One February evening, as the sun was sinking low on the horizon, Erika Blumenfeld ‘90 set out on her daily kilometer-long trek across the Antarctic ice. Ahead of her was the black geodesic dome where she worked and occasionally slept. Behind her was a research station, an oasis of warmth and light in the sea of white. But Blumenfeld, swaddled in 40 pounds of clothing, stopped and turned her face toward the horizon of wind, snow, and endless glacier. The NMH alumna would later describe the moment as one of profound solitude and profound connection, a moment in which she sensed the deep…read more »
