Meta-Oceanic Research

7.4 Quake in Japan

2011-04-07T11:11:00.004-04:00

Here we go again: a 7.4 earthquake has struck Japan, just off the coast of the Miyagi prefecture. There is now a tsunami warning in effect for the country's northeastern coast, which is still recovering from last month's quakes and tsunami.

The current warning predicts a potential tsunami of as much as four feet.

The quake is only 73 miles from Fukushima, and it's being reported that buildings shook and windows broke as far away as Tokyo, which is 207 miles away. No word yet on how badly the melting nuclear reactors have been affected by this latest quake.

A Year's Worth of Radiation, Every Four Days

2011-04-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

This Greenpeace video shows live demonstrations of geiger-counter readings being done many miles away from Fukushima, and yet the radiation exposure is far higher than what is being admitted to in the mainstream media.

According to the Greenpeace volunteer in the video, the citizens living in this area are receiving the maximum amount of radiation a human should receive in a year, in about four days.

And yet, there has been no mass evacuation of these outlying areas. The Japanese government is lying when it says there is no cause for alarm for these citizens. These people are essentially being left to die, in order to avoid a mass panic. If there was ever a time when a mass panic was a good thing, we'd say it would be now. Since these readings are off the scale (note the counter only goes to 9999) and unmeasurably high, it may even be more dire than Greenpeace is estimating.

Japanese Radioactive Materials Polluting Ocean

2011-04-01T17:37:00.002-04:00

Japan Times: "Tokyo Electric Co. came under further fire Friday after it was revealed that many of its employees at the damaged Fukushima No. 1 power plant have been working without the protection of dosimeters. It also said radioactivity in groundwater under the compound spiked."

Radio Free Liberty: "It has already leaked into the ocean, with levels continuing to spike several hundred meters offshore."

Daily Beast: "With highly radioactive water now leaking from the reactors into the Pacific, and levels of radioactive iodine and cesium in the sea near the plant as much as 4,000 times higher than normal, the safety of seafood—and of sushi in particular—has risen on the list of concerns not only in Japan but around the world."

20,000 Penguins Endangered by Oil Slick

2011-03-24T18:48:00.003-04:00

From AFP:

CAPE TOWN — A race to rescue up to 20,000 endangered penguins from an oil spill in an isolated south Atlantic British island group was underway Thursday after a cargo ship ran aground.

Oil-slicked Rockhopper penguins were being collected and taken off three Tristan da Cunha islands to the main island to be stored in a shed for treatment, cleaning and eventual release.

"Five hundred Rockhoppers were brought ashore on Tristan this morning," Tristin da Cunha administrator Sean Burns said in an online statement.

But specialist cleaning fluid was in short supply and hinged on a second ship being chartered from Cape Town, a journey of several days over 2,800 kilometres (1,740 miles), after a salvage vessel arrived on Monday.

"A crucial next step is to confirm a second vessel to depart from Cape Town in the next few days with all the necessary equipment and supplies to clean up the birds, keep them healthy and hopefully return them to the ocean," said Burns.

"It will be a race against time," he added.

Tristan da Cunha, a volcanically active island in the South Atlantic Ocean, is often said to be "the world's most remote inhabited location". (I suppose they mean other than polar expedition stations.)

In addition to the main island, the Tristan da Cunha family of islands also includes the uninhabited Nightingale Islands (where the oil spill caused by the bulk freighter Oliva occurred), Gough Island, and Inaccessible Island.

The BP Disaster Never Ended

2011-03-20T09:31:00.004-04:00

From Stuart H. Smith:

A large oil slick – 12-miles wide by 100-miles long – was spotted yesterday off Grand Isle, Louisiana, by pilot Bonny Schumaker, who heads up the California-based environmental nonprofit “On Wings of Care.” Ms. Schumaker confirmed that the slick is rapidly expanding, and reports that she will be returning to the site as soon as possible to further investigate the situation. New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran, who was flying with Schumaker, filed aerial photos.

This new oil spill is New Huge Spill is in the undersea Mississsippi Canyon System - the same area as BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Throughout the month of February, Corexit and other dispersants have still been sprayed in the Gulf and many people asked themselves why this would be necessary. After all BP and the Government assured us the well was capped and the danger was over, right? But reports of huge undersea cracks still seeping oil from the sea floor remained. And now, the evidence is too huge to cover up: the oil is obviously still leaking, and if throwing more dispersant at it is their only solution, then it appears BP is powerless to stop the leak at its source (or sources).

Japan's Shifting Soil

2011-03-15T16:40:00.010-04:00

The first of the two recent Japanese earthquakes (which has now been upgraded to a 9.1 magnitude, making it the fourth largest recorded since 1900) was caused when the Pacific Plate moved under the North American Plate.

This, in turn, nudged Japan 13 feet closer towards North America (see image, showing before-and-after, courtesy of NASA). The earthquake also shifted Earth on its axis by 6.5 inches, and shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds by making the Earth spin faster, Most disturbing of all, Japan sank downward into the ocean by at least two feet.

Soil liquefaction, which has always been a problem in mainland Japan, is also exacerbated by the ongoing disaster. Tokyo Disneyland closed because of water seeping up from the ground in the immediate wake of the quake. And now with the entire population on radiation fallout alert, the future of the theme park is up in the air. Many parts of Japan's coastline are actually artificial, built on reclaimed land extended into the sea by man-made means. The side effects of this are only now coming back to haunt the Japanese people, as nature seems to be reclaiming it back.

The idea of Japan completely sinking into the ocean is one that's been heavily explored in science fiction, such as Nihon Chinbotsu. While the reality is not quite this dire - yet - the potential for further and even greater tectonic movement is indeed possible.

Update: as we were preparing this post, the alert came over the USGS wire that a third earthquake has taken place in Japan.

At this time, the quake is said to be a 5.7 and is just off the coast of Honshu.

Developing....

Nuclear Disaster Rated 6 out of 7

2011-03-15T12:57:00.006-04:00

Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), has announced the danger of the situation in Japan has now been raised to Level 6 alert. There are only 7 levels.

Level 7 has been reached only once in the world, when Chernobyl plant exploded in 1986.

Lacoste: "We are now in a situation different from that of yesterday. It is quite clear that we are at a level 6, which is intermediate between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl."

The problem with this analysis is that there was only one reactor involved in Chernobyl, and in Three Mile Island. We currently have six nuclear reactors in Japan in various states of increasingly critical condition. Clearly, the international rating system of the ASN needs be amended to include previously-unforeseen scenarios such as this. Or, as many have called for already today, simply declare this mess what it is - a Level 8.

Japanese Radiation Headed for U.S.

2011-03-15T12:31:00.003-04:00

According to this source, radioactive fallout from Japan's failing nuclear reactors could reach the United States within days.

The image seen here is that of a weather forecast map from Hong Kong Obsevatory, with the green line being the forecast at an altitude of 1,500 meters. Alaska will be hit first by the wave of radioactive particles, if the predicted model of the prevailing winds holds true.

Another Earthquake in Japan

2011-03-15T12:14:00.002-04:00

From NHK:

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted central Japan on Tuesday night.

The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake with an intensity of 6 plus on the Japanese seismic scale zero to 7 hit at 10:31 PM.

The focus of the quake is in the eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture and is estimated to be at a depth of 10 kilometers.

Shinmoedake Volcano Erupts

2011-03-13T16:34:00.005-04:00

Earthquakes, aftershocks, tsunami, nuclear meltdowns, and now add volcanic eruption to the list of horrors visited upon Japan this week.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that volcano Shinmoedake is now erupting again. Shinmoedake is on Japan's Kyushu island, which is about 950 miles from the epicenter of Friday's 8.9 earthquake.

Although the volcano has been relatively active in recent years, today's volcanic explosion is the worst in 52 years. According to the report, The volcano blast was loud enough to be heard for miles and the impact broke windows up to 4 miles away.

Japan's Nuclear Disaster Grows

2011-03-13T01:05:00.005-05:00

As we predicted two days ago, the original "don't worry, everything's fine" picture presented by authorities in Japan is coming apart at the seams, along with the country's nuclear reactors.

From USA Today:

The quake and tsunami damaged three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which lost their cooling functions necessary to keep the fuel rods functioning properly. At first the Unit 1 reactor was in trouble with an explosion destroying the walls of the room in which it is placed. Later, Unit 3 also began to experience problems.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said operators released slightly radioactive air from Unit 3 Sunday, while injecting water into it as an effort to reduce pressure and temperature to save the reactor from a possible meltdown.

Still, a partial meltdown in the unit is "highly possible," he told reporters.

And the New York Times:

Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were facing serious cooling problems at three more. The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. [Meta-O note: this figure has since been upped to 250,000 at this hour.] The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that as many as 160 people may have been exposed to radiation around the plant, and Japanese news media said that three workers at the facility were suffering from full-on radiation sickness.

Japanese Quake Triggers Nuclear Emergency

2011-03-11T07:53:00.004-05:00

In the wake of the 8.9 earthquake, the Herald Sun is reporting that a nuclear power plant in Japan has shut down and is unable to cool its reactor. MSNBC says it's two nuke plants. Monsters & Critics says five, and that a fire has broken out at one of them.

Although the official statements from the operators of said plants, and from the Japanese government, assure the public that all is well and that there is no danger, we remain skeptical. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said: "Parts of nuclear plants were automatically shut down but we haven't confirmed any effects induced by radioactive materials outside the facilities."

Developing...

Underwater Robot Pulls Up Giant Isopod

2010-11-14T19:34:00.003-05:00

Recently, when a deep-sea surveying company hoisted up their underwater robot-cam, they were surprised to see this enormous and rare specimen of Bathynomus giganteus had attached itself to it.

Bathynomus giganteus is a Isopod, one of the most diverse orders of crustaceans on the planet. Though this example is unusually large - two and a half feet long - some have been found even larger, and on the other end of the scale, some isopods are so tiny they're microscopic. They are direct cousins of the common Woodlouse which is, for many of us as children, our first experience with crustaceans. Isopods virtually identical to the ones we have today first appear in the fossil record about 300 million years ago.

A New Indonesian Island Arises

2010-11-13T15:53:00.002-05:00

From poleshift.ning.com:

"The increase in volcanic activity all over the world is frightening.

East of the Indonesian island Java, in the sea between Java and Bali, a new island has risen from nothing within a few days. It is probably of volcanic origin. The location is not so very far from Tambora.

West of Java the Anak Krakatoa is active, in the middle of Java the Merapi is very active and east of Java a new island has appeared in the sea, which wasn't there a few days ago. The fear of a coming mega-eruption is real."

Smell/Sight Test Doesn't Reveal Toxicity in Seafood

2010-11-03T11:00:00.003-04:00

From Non-Profit Times:

The organization [Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN)] has been increasingly concerned about the toxic combination of crude oil and dispersant, and Orr said LEAN has been sampling in the Mississippi River Delta, Oyster Bay in Louisiana, and the Lower Atchafalaya Bay Area.

Blue crab samples in the Atchafalaya Bay contained a dangerously high 8.815 mg/kg of hydrocarbons, for example, according to LEAN's reports.

"When we took samples, there was no visible smell or sight of oil," Orr said. "We were astonished there were levels like that. You can't eat a crab like that, with those levels of hydrocarbons."

The organization has been discussing seafood safety with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAHH), and continuing to sample biota including mussels, crab, shrimp and fish. LEAN is in the process of creating a sampling plan for up to the next five years focusing on Louisiana, Orr said.
"I am really disturbed and I think the country is divided in its thought process," she said. "If you live away from the Gulf, you think everything is alright. If you live here, you know it's not alright."

Harmful Bacteria Found in Rainwater

2010-10-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

The results of a year-long rainwater study are in at the University of Bangalore, and it isn't good news.

The scientists found E coli, evidence of Streptococcus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus spp, Actinomyces spp, Bacillus subtilis, Neisseria spp, and Mycobacterium sp in samples of local rain and hail. They also found fungal species like Fusarium spp and Alternaria spp.

The presence of the fungi and bacteria known for causing, among other things, meningitis and necrotizing fascitis, in common rainwater directly challenges the skeptics who claim it's impossible for Corexit or BP's genetically-created oil-eating bacteria to be raining back down on the public as precipitation.

This is, no doubt, the reason our pals over at Florida Spill Law are on this story.... more to come.

Martian Ocean Coming Into Focus

2010-10-30T12:13:00.004-04:00

We now know that the planet Mars once had an enormous ocean that covered over a third of its surface, about 3.5 to 3.7 billion years ago, and now we also may be able to examine some remnants of it. The Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit", which is currently stuck and unable to move on the Martian surface, has nonetheless been able to glean much valuable data about its current location. It's found evidence of subsurface water beneath it, which may be snow melt or permafrost, but could possibly also be traces of the great body of water which once ruled the red planet.

BP's Synthetic Life Forms

2010-10-26T11:21:00.006-04:00

We're still on the fence about the veracity of the "BP Blue Flu" scare story making the rounds online, but Michael Edward, on this World Vision Portal post, seems rather well-researched in his arguments and frightening conclusions.

We urge you to click through and read the entire article. Some excerpts:

In a paper published in the journal Science, Terry Hazen and his colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered in late May through early June 2010 that a previously unknown species of cold-water hydrocarbon-eating bacteria have been feasting on the underwater oil plumes degrading them at accelerated rates.

We can now understand why, on May 15, BP/Synthetic Genome’s CEO Craig Venter hinted of a new hydrocarbon-eating synthetic genome. Prior to that date, JCVI had already applied for numerous additional patents (we were able to find seven) regarding synthetic bio-remediation, such as bacteria synthetic genomes which provide unique DNA information required for “replication of a free-living organism”. In layman’s terms, this means the BP and Synthetic Genome scientists had already created self-replicating bacteria “wherein the assembled DNA molecule is a [synthetic] genome” back in 2007...

Nothing is known about how this new synthetic bio-remediation bacterium in the Gulf reacts with mankind. This is virgin and uncharted territory. We already know how sea mammals such as whales and porpoises have reacted. Those who haven’t escaped the affected areas of the Gulf have died… along with all other marine life and coastal vegetation. While human health effects from crude oil exposure are well known, the effects of dispersants containing oil-eating artificial bacteria are not known. It’s never been done before, let alone at the immense scale of operations now taking place.

There’s a reason the so-called “dispersants” are guarded by weapon-yielding soldiers and local armed law enforcement in warehouses and deployment yards along the Gulf coast. If a sample were to be analyzed by knowledgeable people, the biological and chemical anomalies it contains would be made public, right down to the unique DNA signature. BP keeps allowing their sorcerer’s brew to be called Corexit in order to hide the fact that it’s not just the name brand product any longer.

The physical symptoms of the BP Flu, BP Crud, Blue Flu, or whatever name you choose to call it, are as unique as the synthetic bacteria being used in the Gulf. Since mankind is carbon based, how do these synthetically created hydrogen and carbon hungry bacteria react to human flesh? Internal bleeding as well as ulcerating skin lesions are the physical signs of their computer created DNA signature...

Only 3 Shrimp Tests in 3000 Square Miles!

2010-10-19T10:53:00.003-04:00

From Huffington Post by way of Florida Oil Spill Law comes this datum that, at this late date, shouldn't come as too much of a surprise:

The Federal government has now reopened 2,927 square miles of the Gulf - specifically, an area just South of the Mississippi Delta - to fishing and shrimping boats. But in order to check whether it was safe to do, all they did was perform chemical tests on three samples of shrimp taken from that huge area! (They also did the ridiculous "sniff test" for petroleum odors on five shrimp samples.)

Neither the sniff test nor the chemical test are intended to detect the deadly dispersant Corexit that BP dumped into the ocean in staggering quantities, and the miniscule sampling the government has used to give the okay to such a vast portion of the Gulf is statistically meaningless.

The government's falsely cheerful assessment of the situation coincides with the revelation that University of Georgia scientists took 78 core samples of the Gulf seafloor, and only 5 contained live worms. Traditionally, live worms should have been found in every one of those samples.

Super-Typhoon Megi Approaches Phillipines

2010-10-17T09:47:00.004-04:00

From Channel NewsAsia:

BEIJING: Super typhoon Megi is expected to be the strongest typhoon of the year in China, as it intensified while approaching the northern Philippines on Sunday, forecasters said.

Super typhoon Megi, which means "catfish" in Korean, is expected to enter the South China Sea on Monday, China's National Meteorological Centre said in a statement.

Megi could cause wild winds and huge waves in the South China Sea over the next three days, the statement said.

The centre issued an orange alert, its second-highest level warning, telling ships to shelter in ports and urging local authorities to prepare for emergencies.

Megi will likely exceed winds of 260 MPH and be capable of destroying homes and uprooting large trees. Evacuation plans are being put into place for areas to be hardest hit.

BP Considers Ending Confidential Whistleblower Program

2010-10-15T07:36:00.004-04:00

The Miami Herald is reporting that BP is considering a plan to shut down an ombudman's office instituted to allow whistleblowers to air grievances while protecting their anonymity.

Says the Herald, "The ombudsman, retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin, provides confidential access to a person outside BP who can launch third-party investigations. BP says it may bring the program in-house, perhaps as early as June."

Yeah, that makes sense. Taking something that, by its very nature, is supposed to be independent and bringing it "in-house" will instill plenty of confidence in BP's already near-mutinous ranks, I'm sure.

This latest outrage comes as BP's Mike Utsler is being ridiculed worldwide for his blatantly untrue statement that "not a single sample has failed" in Gulf seafood allegedly being tested for petroleum and Corexit contamination.

It's no wonder gas stations are abandoning the BP franchise in droves.

Blue Lobster

2010-10-14T10:20:00.003-04:00

From NBC:

Some very colorful lobsters have turned up at Norwalk's Maritime Aquarium.

These aren't any old lobsters; one is sky blue, one pumpkin orange, and the other is calico with yellow spots. Lobster shells are normally blackish-green while they are alive, but genetic abnormalities can cause them to turn different colors.

Just how rare is it? The Lobster Conservancy in Maine says the chance of seeing a blue lobster is 1 in a million. For the orange and calico lobster, it's 1 in 30 million.

Deep-water Drilling Ban Lifted

2010-10-13T10:46:00.002-04:00

From Yahoo! News:

The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from the oil industry and Gulf states and with elections nearing, on Tuesday lifted the moratorium that it imposed in April. The ban had been scheduled to expire Nov. 30, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar moved up the deadline, saying new rules have strengthened safety and reduced the risk of another catastrophic blowout that caused more than 200 million gallons of crude to spew from BP's well a mile beneath the Gulf.

Of course, the full details are still largely not fully known regarding what went wrong with the Deepwater Horizon, and much of what we do know about it indicates that people weren't following the guidelines already in place. So to suggest that things are safer now than before is assuming that individuals in the oil industry are less greedier now than before - and if you believe that, I have some swampland on the planet Pulcova to sell you.

Sea Shepherd Drama Deepens

2010-10-11T10:11:00.003-04:00

Recently the Captain of the Ady Gil, Pete Bethune, turned on his former Whale Wars comrades and lashed out with a mean-spirited and cowardly attack (on Facebook, of course) on Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd crew. Bethune claims that most of the important scenes on Whale Wars, including the sinking of the Ady Gil and the assassination attempt on Watson by Yakuza, were completely fake and staged for TV.

Needless to say, Watson and his crew aren't taking this libel lying down - they've responded to Bethune's crazy Facebook rants with a series of meticulously prepared refutations - read here, here, and here.

This sort of thing happens all the time and seems unfortunately to be part and parcel of dealing with humans in group situations. From corporations to religions to even community theatre troupes, you'll find there's always disgruntled ex-members of an organization who turn to the internet as a means of slandering that organization. We continue to support Paul Watson fully and wish Mr. Bethune would find a new rock to crawl under.

Further BP Atrocities Alleged

2010-10-10T19:11:00.002-04:00

This report and video from the Examiner is quite disturbing, if true. Most grisly of all: allegations of a coverup regarding human body parts washing ashore after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Click here for the report.

Global Shellfish Decline

2010-10-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

From Science Daily:

The acidification of the Earth's oceans due to rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) may be contributing to a global decline of clams, scallops and other shellfish by interfering with the development of shellfish larvae, according to two Stony Brook University scientists, whose findings are published online and in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Click through to read the full frightening article.

Another Oil Platform Explosion in the Gulf

2010-09-02T15:14:00.002-04:00

Here we go again.

An oil rig belonging to the Houston-based company Mariner Energy has exploded and burst into flames.

An oil sheen about 100 feet wide has been spotted emanating from the platform, which is located 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay and about 200 miles west of the Deepwater Horizon BP disaster site.

Developing....

James Lee's Confused Manifesto

2010-09-01T15:34:00.006-04:00

It's happening more and more in our society, and now here it is again: another disgruntled protestor, despairing at the ineffectiveness of their protest, has decided to turn to senseless violence.

At this time, a hostage situation is underway at the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Maryland. WJLA is reporting the suspects name is James Jay Lee, a nutcase well known for picketing outside the Discovery building.

Lee's website, "Save the Planet Protest", had a bizarre list of demands. That list has been taken down from the web, but we have it here:

"The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:

1. The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily
television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My
Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be
done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people
building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how
people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children
since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game
show format contest would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading
scientists who understand and agree with the Malthus-Darwin science
and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all until
something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human
civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!

2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.

3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions solutions instead of
just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also, keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF??? STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!

4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn't, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??

5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans looking for nonexistant jobs!)

6. Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don't build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the destruction of the planet!

7. Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human race. Talk about Evolution. Talk about Malthus and Darwin until it sinks into the stupid people's brains until they get it!!

8. Saving the Planet means saving what's left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! You're the media, you can reach enough people. It's your resposibility because you reach so many minds!!!

9. Develop shows that will correct and dismantle the dangerous US world economy. Find solutions for their disasterous Ponzi-Casino economy before they take the world to another nuclear war.

10. Stop all shows glorifying human birthing on all your channels and on TLC. Stop Future Weapons shows or replace the dialogue condemning the people behind these developments so that the shows become exposes rather than advertisements of Arms sales and development!

11. You're also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.

Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what's left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture.

For every human born, ACRES of wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in order to feed that new addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new human's lifespan! THIS IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human procreation and farming must cease!

It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices. Children represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution whereas their parents are current pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third World child. It's like a couple are having 30 babies even though it's just one! If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!

Also, war must be halted. Not because it's morally wrong, but because of the catastrophic environmental damage modern weapons cause to other creatures. FIND SOLUTIONS JUST LIKE THE BOOK SAYS! Humans are supposed to be inventive. INVENT, DAMN YOU!!

The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them to breed more environmentally harmful humans.

Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.

The humans? The planet does not need humans.

You MUST KNOW the human population is behind all the pollution and problems in the world, and YET you encourage the exact opposite instead of discouraging human growth and procreation. Surely you MUST ALREADY KNOW this!

I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it."

If this anti-human manifesto is for real, we're not sure how to take it. As a thinker and a writer, Lee is certainly no Ted Kaczynski, and some of the passages in this screed make it hard to take seriously as really coming from a legitimate eco-activist. ("and, of course, the Squirrels"?)

More relevant details as we learn them. Developing...

Mystery Yacht Update

2010-08-26T16:30:00.003-04:00

According to tbo.com, the name of the yacht that washed up in Florida yesterday, lights on and engines running, is "Makin Waves".

Its owner is one Arturo Millet Reyes, who reported the boat stolen from Cancun a few days ago. He also owns the Yucatan soccer team Merida F.C.

According to the article, "Makin' Waves" had an expired Florida registration but a current Delaware registration. The CNN story claiming the yacht was registered to the U.S. Government is evidently incorrect.

Mystery Yacht Washes Up In Florida

2010-08-26T15:13:00.004-04:00

An empty yacht, with the engine was still running and its lights still on, washed up ashore in the Madeira Beach area yesterday around 1pm EST.

From CNN:

The Coast Guard sent out two rescue vessels and a helicopter but was not able to locate anybody.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that the vessel is registered to the federal government, CNN-affiliate WFTS reported.

Deputies from the Pinellas County Sheriff's office are investigating the incident and trying to track down the owner of the boat.

22-Mile-Long Plume Discovered

2010-08-19T22:09:00.006-04:00

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have discovered a plume of oil under the surface of the Ocean spanning 22 miles long. The oil, apparently driven below the surface by BP's heavy application of Corexit dispersant in the Gulf, is not breaking down.

This completely contradicts what BP and the U.S. Government have been telling us about the amount of oil still in the Ocean; it wasn't long ago that both parties were telling us that the oil had somehow magically disappeared and that citizens should go back to business as usual, go swimming, and eat seafood again.

This all comes at the same time as three reports that further debunk the official myth that the Gulf is all cleaned up:

Scientists from the University of Georgia have now gone on record as estimating that about 3/4 of the oil from the BP disaster is still there, it's just hidden below the surface.

Meanwhile, the University of South Florida has announced they've found oil coalescing in the underwater Desoto canyon - at levels toxic to marine life. David Hollander, a chemical oceanographer at USF, told CNN that "small larval fish see these droplets as food so they’re ingesting pure oil".

And finally, the Guardian is reporting that "Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University, said the White House accounting for the oil is misleading and that only 10% of the oil that spewed into the Gulf has been removed from the ocean."

The BP "Blue Flu" - Exaggeration or Epidemic?

2010-08-11T16:05:00.004-04:00

A lot of mysterious and severe health problems have been reported among the BP disaster cleanup workers, and among others who have come too close to the oil, the Corexit, or both. What is happening here? Is it something more than just ordinary exposure to crude oil?

Many believe that what we're seeing here are cases of "TILT" (Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance). Two weeks ago, southernstudies.org reported:

Regardless of whether the illness being reported in Gulf cleanup workers and residents ends up being confirmed as TILT, the fact remains that the chemicals people are being exposed to in the oil and dispersants are known to have health impacts including eye, skin and respiratory irritation, as well as headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea and confusion. An analysis of EPA air testing data has found levels of these chemicals in coastal communities exceeding safety standards.

As of this week, the Louisiana Department of Health has documented 109 reports of illnesses among residents exposed to the spill, with 74 of those complaints coming from cleanup workers, according to ProPublica. In Alabama, another 19 cases of illness have been reported among people exposed to chemicals in the spill.

Now, another set of symptoms are being reported online, and a new name is being circulated: the "Blue Flu", or the "BP Flu". Apparently this story broke on a website called World Vision Portal, with someone called "Gnosty" giving a firsthand account of something potentially even more frightening than TILT.

"Gnosty" reports that locals in Florida are complaining of "migraine headaches, eye aches, joint aches, ear aches, severe coughing bouts, fevers, vomiting, and swollen glands (especially in the neck)", as well as "severe symptomatic cyanosis. These rapidly increasing symptoms range from bluish lip color to numbness in fingers and toes." He adds:

I have been interviewing family and friends who live along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Louisiana and Mississippi. Many of them had been working on shrimp boats before May 1, 2010 and a cousin is a shrimp boat owner. I have also spoken at length with two RN's working at a Gulf coast Emergency Room and an Emergency Clinic who are close family friends. I am basing what follows on their observations and knowledge along with my own personal research...

The oil and gas from the Biloxi Dome area has not stopped flowing. It's an oil exploration well which blew out on or about February 13, 2010 so severely that it deposited the Blow Out Preventer (BOP) and the steel well casing hundreds of yards away on the ocean floor. There is nothing there to cap or abate the oil flow with. It's an open hole that is nothing less than an oil, gas and tar volcano. While a certain leaking BP well may have been capped seven miles northeast of the Biloxi Dome area, an already large underwater lake of oil at an approximate 3,000 foot depth is rapidly growing each hour. It's estimated 9 mile length in May 2010 is surely dwarfed in size now.

Don't be fooled by the lack of surface oil being reported by the mainstream media shills and BP. Corexit hides what is beneath and Corexit is more toxic than crude oil itself. The only people denying the existence of the underwater plumes are the people at BP. And they offer no evidence to contradict the extremely solid evidence provided by four universities, including LSU, of the existence of these huge underwater plumes of oil.

In rather alarmist terms, the article warns that the entire nation will be affected by the "BP Flu", because the oil and methane continuing to flood the Gulf of Mexico from the Biloxi Dome area will in turn result in more toxins released into the water and the air. Gradually currents will bring these substances inland. Presumably Corexit will continue to be applied to the gulf in order to keep up the appearance that everything is fine; and the Corexit disperant will also aid in the propagation of microparticles. "While the Blue Flu symptoms are increasing for more and more people, those who have had 30+ days of direct exposure to the toxic and oxygen depleted Gulf air and water are in immediate danger of permanent and irreversible biological damage... if not death."

We caution the reader that everything in the World Vision Portal post is hearsay so far, but it echoes and dovetails with verifiable similar cases. It's also extremely well-written and motivates us to keep an eye on the story and research the matter further ourselves.

Developing...

Matt Simmons Found Dead

2010-08-09T10:34:00.006-04:00

Breaking news: Matt Simmons, famous for his controversial criticisms of BP and calls for full disclosure regarding the true nature of the oil disaster in the Gulf, is dead.

From WLBZ:

The Knox County Sheriff's Department says Matthew Simmons, the founder of the Ocean Energy Institute, drowned at his house on North Haven late Sunday night.

Simmons was a leading investment banker for the energy industry and had recently retired to work full time on the new Ocean Energy Institute.

He was a leading proponent of offshore wind power and had started raising money to develop and build offshore turbines.

Oil Spill Epidemic

2010-07-27T12:05:00.005-04:00

Why are oil spills suddenly occurring constantly, all over the world? Just this year, the environment has taken an unprecedented beating, from the oil industry alone.

There's now a leak of an oil pipeline in the Kalamazoo River, Michigan. So far, an estimated 840,000 gallons of oil has gushed into a creek that directly flows into the river.

Meanwhile, the Chinese oil spill has been contained before it reached international waters, the Chinese government assures us. (Then again, this is the same Chinese government that kills political dissidents, censors the internet, and initially lied about culpability in scandals over poisonous pet food, poisonous milk, contaminated pharamaceuticals, and toxic drywall.)

The Egyptian government similarly tried to keep the truth quiet about the Geisum oil leak in the Red Sea, and we're still in the dark about what's really been going on over there.

And in the North Sea last month, an oil leak occurred at the Maersk Resolute drilling platform near Denmark.

An American oil rig owned by Taylor Energy was discovered to be leaking when a research accidentally noticed it on satellite imagery while seeking images of the nearby BP leak.

And of course, the BP leak still continues unfixed to this day, with growing concerns about potentially catastrophic damage beneath the sea floor.

Chinese Oil Spill Grows

2010-07-21T09:48:00.002-04:00

While much of the world's attention remains fixed on the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, another oil spill is destroying sea life on the other side of the globe.

A Chinese oil pipeline has been spewing crude oil into China's Yellow Sea for five days now, as the Associated Press reports:

China's largest reported oil spill had more than doubled by Wednesday, closing beaches on the Yellow Sea and prompting an environmental official to warn the sticky black crude posed a "severe threat" to sea life and water quality.

Some workers trying to clean up the inky beaches wore little more than rubber gloves, complicating efforts, one official said. But 40 oil-control boats and hundreds of fishing boats were also deployed in the area.

"I've been to a few bays today and discovered they were almost entirely covered with dark oil," said Zhong Yu, a worker with the environmental group Greenpeace China, who spent Wednesday on a boat inspecting the spill.

"The oil is half-solid and half liquid and is as sticky as asphalt," she told The Associated Press.

The oil was spread over 165 square miles (430 square kilometers) of water five days since a pipeline at a busy northeastern port exploded.

The Chinese government-controlled media has stated that no more oil is leaking into the Yellow Sea, yet outside observers maintain that the oil slick is continuing to grow.

The Truth is Seeping Out

2010-07-19T09:42:00.005-04:00

The mainstream media is finally starting to overtly acknowledge what we have been warning about for some time now - that the undersea oil seeps could be a dangerous indicator of massive damage to the ocean floor and its underground infrastructure. Says the Associated Press:

The federal government Monday allowed BP to keep the cap shut tight on its busted Gulf of Mexico oil well for another day despite a seep in the sea floor after the company promised to watch closely for signs of new leaks underground, settling for the moment a rift between BP and the government.

Late Sunday, [Thad] Allen said a seep had been detected a distance from the busted oil well and demanded in a sharply worded letter that BP step up monitoring of the ocean floor.

White House energy adviser Carol Browner told the CBS "Early Show" the seep was found less than two miles from the well site.

When asked about the seep and the monitoring, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this."

"Clearly we want this to end. But we don't want to enter into a situation where we have uncontrolled leaks all over the Gulf floor," Browner told ABC.

Scientists still aren't sure whether the pressure readings mean a leak elsewhere in the well bore, possibly deep down in bedrock, which could make the seabed unstable. Oil would have to be released into the water to relieve pressure and allow crews to hook up the ships, BP and Allen have said.

On July 15, MSNBC aired a very candid interview with Matt Simmons (founder of the Ocean Energy Institute) in which he blew the whistle about a "massive hole" spewing oil and methane, miles from the original BP disaster site. "It's a big lie", declared Simmons regarding the official position that there is only one leak and that the cap is working. (Also referenced on MSNBC here.)

If there is substantial damage beneath the sea floor - and there is every indication of it - the implications for the environment are serious. When capping one leak, the extreme pressure of the oil and methane beneath the sea bed will obviously seek another path at whatever weakest point it can find. It's like when your roof leaks and you patch up the affected part of your ceiling with plaster - next time it rains, the water will simply go around it and pop up somewhere else nearby, wherever it can. BP's historically unprecedented deep drilling may have created an ecological problem that cannot easily be fixed.

Oil Found Inside Crab Larvae

2010-07-03T11:05:00.002-04:00

McClatchy is reporting on a sickening discovery that BP oil has likely entered our food chain:

Scientists with the University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University in New Orleans have found droplets of oil in the larvae of blue crabs and fiddler crabs sampled from Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla.

"I think we will see this enter the food chain in a lot of ways — for plankton feeders, like menhaden, they are going to just actively take it in," said Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. "Fish are going to feed on (crab larvae). We have also just started seeing it on the fins of small, larval fish — their fins were encased in oil. That limits their mobility, so that makes them easy prey for other species. The oil's going to get into the food chain in a lot of ways."

Perry said researchers have not yet linked the hydrocarbons found in the crab larvae to the BP disaster, but she has little doubt it's the source. She said she has never seen such contamination in her 42 years of studying blue crab.

Obama Administration Bans All Media From BP Disaster Area

2010-07-02T19:53:00.003-04:00

Admiral Thad Allen, who is appointed to oversee the BP disaster site for the Coast Guard and the Obama administration, has issued a bizarre directive of Orwellian proportions: it is now a felony to approach within 65 feet of the cleanup efforts, including booms. And scarier still, we're told that they originally wanted the keep-away zone to be 300 feet. This effectively destroys the media's ability to cover the scene and to talk to cleanup workers.

Allen's rationale for this? He claims: "I actually had some personal complaints from some county commissioners in Florida and some other local mayors that thought that there was a chance that somebody would get hurt." And yet, no one investigating this story has been able to locate these alleged commissioners and mayors who supposedly complained. As far as we know, such officials want more coverage and information about what's really going on, not less.

The cognitive dissonance of issuing this absurd and un-American violation of the First Amendment here on the Fourth of July weekend is just too ironic. Already, we're hearing talk from lifelong Democrats about opposing Obama in the next election, specifically over this issue. (We here at Meta-Oceanic are as apolitical as they come, but if Obama doesn't step forward and countermand this Government-imposed media blackout order fairly immediately, he's lost our confidence as well. The "transparency" that Obama and Allen have spoken of so often has turned out to be precisely the same sort of bullying tactics and coverup activity we've seen in previous administrations.)

Several prominent citizens and members of the media, including Louisiana politician Billy Nungesser, have already publicly stated their intent to flout this new law.

Click here to view CNN's Anderson Cooper expressing outrage about being prevented from properly covering this story. Another copy of the video is here.

BP Disaster Fund: We Can't Afford to Pay All Claims

2010-07-02T10:21:00.003-04:00

From The Age:

The man appointed by US President Barack Obama to manage BP's oil spill disaster fund has warned that ''there's not enough money in the world'' to pay all claims, and suggested home owners with plunging property values could lose out.

The warning from prominent US lawyer Kenneth Feinberg came as hurricane Alex disrupted clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico and pushed oil deeper into fragile coastal wetlands and once-pristine beaches.

Mr Feinberg, asked by Mr Obama to administer the $US20 billion ($A23.5 billion) claims fund, insisted BP would ''pay every eligible claim'', but cautioned that many perceived damages may not qualify.

''I use that famous example of a restaurant in Boston that says, 'I can't get shrimp from Louisiana, and my menu suffers and my business is off,' '' Mr Feinberg told the House of Representatives committee on small business.

''Well, no law is going to recognise that claim.''

He said he was still sorting out how to deal with indirect claims such as hotels that lose bookings because tourists think beaches are covered in oil, or people whose property values decline but who live several blocks from an oil-affected beach.

''There's no question that the property value has diminished as a result of the spill. That doesn't mean that every property is entitled to compensation,'' he said. ''There's not enough money in the world to pay everybody who'd like to have money.''

Genetically Modified Salmon Coming Soon

2010-07-02T09:57:00.003-04:00

A genetically altered salmon that will grow at twice the natural rate - 18 months rather than the usual three years - is on its way to your dinner table.

The FDA is close to approving the product, called AquAdvantage salmon, having already acknowledged that it meets at least five of their seven criteria. If this growth-hormone-laden "Frankenfish" passes, it will be the first GMO animal ever approved for eating.

The FDA are already arguing amongst themselves about whether or not to require that the fish be labeled as GMO. GMO plants currently have no such requirement - and if they did, almost everything would be labeled, because soy and corn are ubiquitious in American food products, and 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the United States is genetically altered.

According to the New York Times:

The salmon’s approval would help open a path for companies and academic scientists developing other genetically engineered animals, like cattle resistant to mad cow disease or pigs that could supply healthier bacon. Next in line behind the salmon for possible approval would probably be the “enviropig,” developed at a Canadian university, which has less phosphorus pollution in its manure.

Critics say the drug evaluation process does not allow full assessment of the possible environmental impacts of genetically altered animals and also blocks public input. “There is no opportunity for anyone from the outside to see the data or criticize it,” said Margaret Mellon, director of the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. When consumer groups were invited to discuss biotechnology policy with top F.D.A. officials last month, Ms. Mellon said she warned the officials that approval of the salmon would generate “a firestorm of negative response.”

Fossils of Complex Life Forms From Over Two Billion Years Ago Discovered

2010-07-01T23:57:00.002-04:00

From Science Daily:

The discovery in Gabon of more than 250 fossils in an excellent state of conservation has provided proof, for the first time, of the existence of multicellular organisms 2.1 billion years ago. This finding represents a major breakthrough: until now, the first complex life forms (made up of several cells) dated from around 600 million years ago.

Until now, it has been assumed that organized multicellular life appeared around 0.6 billion years ago and that before then the Earth was mainly populated by microbes (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.). This new discovery moves the cursor of the origin of multicellular life back by 1.5 billion years and reveals that cells had begun to cooperate with each other to form more complex and larger structures than single-celled organisms.

BP Oil Disaster Reaches Mississippi

2010-06-28T12:35:00.002-04:00

Reports started coming in last night about BP's oil reaching the shores of Mississippi, with "large patches of thick oil" according to ABC (Australia):

Hundreds of globs of brown oil began washing ashore Mississippi tourist beaches at Ocean Springs and fishing hot spots on Sunday.

"This might be the last time we are able to come to the beach," Ocean Springs residents James Vogeney said. "What makes us so mad about all of this is that it could have been avoided. All of it."

Another resident, Mike Hollings, says he cried when he saw the oil start to wash ashore at the beach. "Life as I know it is over. What are we going to do if nobody cares to act fast enough," he said. Wildlife officials have picked up one pelican covered in oil and one dead turtle.

This adds Mississippi to the list of affected states, which includes Florida, Louisiana and Alabama. Tar balls reported in Texas have not been conclusively proved to be from BP.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who has previously defended BP and made such foolish statements as declaring crude oil safe as toothpaste, has now done an about-face on his previous "move along, nothing to see here" position. Now that the oil has fouled his own state's beaches, he's calling on BP and the Federal government to increase resources for Mississippi to help combat the ecological catastrophe.

BP Still Burning Sea Turtles to Death

2010-06-27T10:47:00.005-04:00

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, BP is still burning endangered sea turtles alive. NOAA estimates that 425 sea turtles so far have died as a result of the BP catastrophe, and that death toll is rising.

BP has routinely been ignoring the presence of sea turtles in the areas in which it conducts massive oil burn-offs. Even more appalling, they're trying to stop turtle-rescue groups from interfering. From AllGov:

BP has conducted numerous controlled burns on the ocean surface to eliminate some of the oil collecting in the Gulf of Mexico. But in the process, the company is also burning alive endangered sea turtles caught in the areas set aflame, according to federal officials.

Environmentalists have been outraged by the killings and BP’s callous actions, which include scaring away boats trying to rescue sea turtles caught in the burns. The company could face fines of up to $50,000 for each sea turtle killed or harmed by the spill or cleanup.

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project has a shrimp boat captain's eyewitness testimony about the turtle atrocities on video. The local captain was enlisted by BP to help out with the cleanup effort, but they stopped him from attempting to rescue young sea turtles when the chance arose:

He was captured on video saying that the turtles are being collected in the clean-up efforts and burned up like so much ocean debris with other marine life gathering along tide lines where oil also congregates.

Sea Shepherd Laughs at Interpol Inquiry

2010-06-26T18:07:00.012-04:00

FOX News is reporting that Paul Watson, the Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is now on Interpol's "Blue" Wanted List. Watson is wanted in connection with several incidents where Sea Shepherd crewmembers interfered with Japan's whaling and fishing expeditions in the Antarctic. One member, Peter Bethune, has already been charged with trespassing, vandalism, possession of a knife, obstructing business and assault.

The article states:

Prosecutors say Bethune threw glass bottles containing rotten butter at the harpoon boat, including one that broke and left three Japanese crew members with chemical burns.

Watson, however, remains defiant and refuses to take the charges seriously. Excerpted from an editorial on his website:

It seems my reputation as an international eco-desperado has been notched up this week with my name posted by Japan on the Interpol “Blue List.” It’s surprisingly exciting. I feel so Jason Bourne!

The strange discriminatory insanity of humanity is such that I actually find it both amusing and complimentary to have Sea Shepherd’s work recognized in such an official manner, for the truth is that we have pissed off a great many people who profit from the rape and destruction of our planet.

Watson may not have much to worry about. Despite all the mystique about Interpol as some sort of spooky gestapo-like agency, they apparently don't even seem to be capable of keeping their own website updated - we just checked and found no mention of Watson on the Blue List, not even in their search function.

Geisum Oil Contradictions Continue in Jebel al-Zayt

2010-06-26T14:31:00.007-04:00

HEPCA, a watchdog organization protecting the ecology of the Red Sea, says at last report that the Jebel al-Zayt oil leak at an Egyptian state-owned Petrogulf Misr/Geisum Oil rig has finally been contained.

However, HEPCA seems oddly tentative to name Geisum as the culprit even though this information has been verified elsewhere in the world media. Perhaps they fear reprisal from the Egyptian government, or legal retribution; an early report had local activists reluctant to divulge Petrogulf Misr/Geisum's name "for legal reasons." And though they speak of the leak having been stopped, they use the present tense for the situation later in the same press release:

We are still fervently awaiting the Nature Conservation Sector’s assessment of the damages at as well as a statement declaring the identity of the rig that is visibly spewing out the oil!

The damage to Egypt's natural resources is a crime that must not go unpunished; and the complicity of any party with such a crime must be revealed and condemned.

The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum now claims that the oil that polluted beaches was actually not from any of its rigs. They speculate that the oil perhaps leaked by a passing tanker, or may have seeped from the ground spontaneously; in other words, they're grasping at straws to point the finger anywhere that doesn't lead back to themselves. According to the state-run Middle East News Agency, the state-run Ministry issued a report declaring that the state-run oil rig was "sound". (Well, I guess that settles that, doesn't it?)

Even more contradictory is the ministry's statement that because of this incident, they're looking at the possibility of limiting oil drilling activity in the area. But why on Earth would they say this now if their position is that oil drilling had nothing to do with it?

Finally, we have to ask, is the leak really fixed? We've already heard Egyptian govt. assurances that it has been, followed by eyewitness reports that it most certainly had not. HEPCA seems to be agreeing with the state position now, but we also have to wonder if they're not just fearing for their own safety - severe lashings, beatings and inordinately lengthy imprisonment are still standard punishment procedure in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both of which have legal jurisdiction over the Red Sea.

Ponies And Balloons: BP Staging Fake Cleanups

2010-06-24T12:21:00.006-04:00

Making waves on the net recently: an eye-opening video of a speech by Kindra Arnesen at the Gulf Emergency Summit, telling her eyewitness testimony about the media blackout of what's really happening with the BP disaster.

One of her more shocking revelations is that the BP cleanup team routinely stage fake cleanup operations when politicians come to inspect, and that when the politician leaves, 85% of the workers and resources rolled out for his/her benefit are then pulled back. The BP officials jokingly refer to this hoax with the code phrase "Ponies and Balloons".

View the video here.

BP Removes Cap, Two Men Dead

2010-06-23T13:39:00.008-04:00

The Coast Guard is reporting two deaths today related to the oil spill effort, according to ABC.

Conflicting reports about whether the deaths are work-related or not. Both are under investigation. According to ABC: "One was an accident regarding a swimming pool, a swimming event, and the other one was a vessel of opportunity operator in Gulf Shores, Miss.," he said."

The term "Vessel of opportunity" refers to a ship or boat that has been involuntarily pressed into service for BP's cleanup effort.

From the Alabama Press-Register:

William Allen Kruse, born 1955, was the captain of The Rookie, a charter fishing boat normally based in Orange Beach, said Deputy Baldwin County Coroner Rod Steade.

Steade said the deckhands were on the docks and heard a gunshot and went back on and found him dead on the "flying bridge."

As yet, no further specifics about the other death have been released, but we're watching this story very closely and trying to get more information. Kruse's death certainly sounds like a potential suicide, but we're not ruling out foul play.

Meanwhile, BP has removed their cap from oil leak in the Gulf, and the flow now appears to be even more methane-laden than ever. From the Associated Press:

NEW ORLEANS — Hundreds of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped a venting system and forced BP to remove a cap that had been containing some of the crude.

When the robot bumped the system, gas rose through the vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

The cap was removed and crews were checking to see if crystals had formed before putting it back on. Allen did not say how long that might take.

"There's more coming up than there had been, but it's not a totally unconstrained discharge," Allen said.

In the meantime, a different system was still burning oil on the surface.

Mixed Signals About Oil's Spread to Keys

2010-06-22T20:09:00.006-04:00

There's a story on CBS 4 today about how the Florida Keys are "in the clear from oil spill for now", which certainly sounds like good news.

But then, you read a little deeper into the article and you notice that what they're really saying is, "So far, there have been no reports of 'recoverable' oil in the Loop Current or eddy." Whether the oil is of the "recoverable" sort or not is not really our concern.

The article closes with this less than reassuring data:

NOAA's James Jeansonne, who for weeks has been searching for oil from a Coast Guard's C-130, said the Gulf has many oil sheens and tar balls from natural oil seeps and bunker fuels coming off ships. About 200 tar balls have been found on shorelines throughout the Keys, but none have been connected to the Deepwater Horizon spill.

It's true that none have been connected to the BP spill yet, but neither have they been conclusively ruled out; the tar balls are being tested as we speak.

However, a blog called Picasso Dreams claims that the oil slick in all its foul glory, not just the preliminary tar balls, is already in the waters of the Florida Keys. Some pretty convincing photos are also provided.

Geisum Oil Spill Continues in Red Sea

2010-06-21T23:26:00.004-04:00

From the Associated Press:

CAIRO — Environmental activists said Monday that an oil spill off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea is continuing even after the government said it had been contained, leaving turtles and sea birds covered in oil.

Government spokesman Magdy Rady told the state news agency Monday that the spill, which began last week, was "limited" and has now largely been contained. It was one of the first government acknowledgments that the spill was even taking place.

An environmental group based in the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada told the Associated Press that the government was trying to cover up the extent of the damage and the leak had restarted.

Although Egypt's Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy has publicly claimed that the source of the oil is unknown, independent laboratory tests have already confirmed that the oil washed up on the beaches is from the same source as the oil leaking from Geisum's oil rig.

This latest environmental mess has been complicated not only by the Egyptian government's attempts to cover up the incident, but also by the increased military presence heating up in the Red Sea. Israeli and U.S. warships have been deployed to the Red Sea in what has widely been described as a stage-setting for a possible attack on Iran.

BP Oil Leak Reaches Cuba

2010-06-21T20:08:00.005-04:00

The oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster has now reached Cuban waters. WTSP-TV in Tampa reported four days ago:

There are now reports of an oil sheen just offshore of Cuba. This implies the oil has reached the southeastern extent of the loop current and could continue east through the Florida straights.

That prediction seems imminent. Click the image to enlarge a graphic of projected ocean currents that will lead the oil sludge around Florida, scraping past Cuba, through the Keys, then up the East Coast.

According to The Guardian, the Cuban government in Havana has called in oil-spill experts from Venezuela to help stave off the ruin of Cuba's beaches amid reports of coastal tarballs.

One might think that the Cuban Communist Party would be eager to use the situation to decry the misdeeds of its capitalist neighbors, but the BP disaster has surprisingly received very little coverage in Cuba's official publications like Granma and the Havana Times. But Cuba themselves have also been drilling for oil - their Cubapetroleo company has been eagerly tapping the area's vast oil reserves with the assistance and encouragement of their Chinese partners, the China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (SINOPEC).

Where will it all end? The Belfast Telegraph notes that if the oil follows natural ocean currents, it will eventually reach Ireland, and beyond.

BP Dumping Disaster Debris into Florida Landfills

2010-06-21T19:48:00.003-04:00

According to an article in the Pensacola News Journal, the oil-soaked absorbent booms, pads, rags and protective gear used in oil cleanup efforts are ending up dumped in Florida:

Some 15 truck loads of oil-related waste per day are being dumped at Springhill Landfill near Campbellton in Jackson County. Waste Management company owns the landfill and has the contract with BP to dispose of oil spill-related solid waste, said Waste Management spokeswoman Amy Boyson.

BP's oil spill-related solid waste from Alabama and Mississippi is taken to either Pecan Grove Landfill in Harrison County, Miss., or Chastang Landfill in Mobile County, Ala. — both owned by Waste Management, Boyson said.

The oily material is double-bagged before being put inside the plastic-lined metal waste container then covered with a plastic, waterproof tarp, said Pat Johnson, operations manager for Escambia Solid Waste Management.

New Oil Spill in Red Sea, Unreported for 4 Days

2010-06-20T14:54:00.006-04:00

There are news reports that another oil spill has occured, this time in the Red Sea off Egypt. From Islam Tribune:

Large quantities of oil have appeared in recent days around the resorts of Hurghada which draw millions of tourists who come to dive or snorkle, according to the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Agency.

“It started four or five days ago and the companies responsible didn’t notify anyone. It is catastrophic,” HEPCA Managing Director Amr Ali told AFP.

The spill was caused by leakage from an offshore oil platform north of Hurghada and has polluted protected areas and showed up on tourist beach resorts.

“The companies have said they will pay damages, but it is the environmental damage that we are concerned about,” Ali said, declining to name the companies for legal reasons.

There have been unconfirmed rumors circulating on internet chatter on sites like allvoices that Geisum is one of the companies involved, and that BP may also be involved. Nothing is known for certain at this time.

The Meta-Oceanic Research Group telephoned Geisum for a statement but received no answer. (However, it is 10:04pm in Egypt as of this writing).

Developing...

Warnings of Health Hazards from Oil Burnoff

2010-06-19T00:01:00.002-04:00

From UPI:

Burning off oil from the ruined Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico creates toxic byproducts that could be a health hazard, one expert says.

Dr. Phil Harber, head of Occupational and Environmental Medicine division at UCLA, says people living on nearby shorelines could be affected, CNN reported Friday.

Depending on the scope and duration of the burn, Harber said, "People with asthma, or who are very young, or who have cardiac disease, are much more likely to be sensitive the released pollutants."

And from nwfdailynews.com:

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection authorized the Coast Guard to burn oil offshore, and the county is warning people of potential health issues.

Particulate matter, an airborne mix of very small particles and liquid droplets, may reach the shore, according to an Okaloosa County Health Department news release.

People on the coast may smell the oil spill odor of volatile organic compounds, similar to the smell at a gas station.

"You can smell these VOCs at levels well below those that would make you sick," the release reads.

Exposure to low levels may cause eye, nose, skin and throat irritation.

Stranded Fin Whale Bounces Back to Health

2010-06-18T21:49:00.003-04:00

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that a Fin whale stranded
for three days along a Danish fjord has suddenly started swimming again today, surprising naysayers who had given it zero chance for survival.

According to the story, volunteers who had attempted to rescue the whale decided to allow the whale to die naturally and in peace, while firefighters hosed it down it with water in what everyone had assumed to be the creature's final hours.

The Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), whose life span is around 85 to 90 years, is recognizable by the prominent ridge along its back. It is estimated there are still 46,000 of them in the North Atlantic.

The Mystery of Eugene Island

2010-06-18T18:34:00.007-04:00

The Gulf of Mexico's Eugene Island Block 330 Field (just off the coast of Louisiana) is often cited by proponents of the abiotic oil theory because of something very strange: its depleted oil wells found themselves, as if by magic, suddenly replenished with new oil - and no one could say exactly why.

From the Wall Street Journal, April 16, 1999:

Something mysterious is going on at Eugene Island 330. Production at the oil field, deep in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, was supposed to have declined years ago. And for a while, it behaved like any normal field: Following its 1973 discovery, Eugene Island 330's output peaked at about 15,000 barrels per day (2,400 m3/d). By 1989, production had slowed to about 4,000 barrels per day (640 m3/d). Then suddenly -- some say almost inexplicably -- Eugene Island's fortunes reversed. The field, operated by PennzEnergy Co., is now producing 13,000 barrels per day (2,100 m3/d), and probable reserves have rocketed to more than 400 million barrels from 60 million.

According to a 2002 article by Robert Cooke in Newsday, the source of Eugene 330's new oil from nowhere was analyzed and suspected to be migrating through faults from much deeper and older subterranean faults. These "deep earth" faults have been surmised to be from the Jurassic and Cretaceous age. This new mystery oil contains biomarkers closely related to other extremely ancient oil deposits, trapped in very deep formations.

Eugene 330's effectiveness as a "smoking gun" for abiotic oil is limited, however. Skeptics point out that Eugene 330 is special precisely because what happened there has never happened before, and this begs the logical question, why isn't this phenomena more common if the deep strata of the Earth's crust is filled with endlessly self-replenishing reserves of abiotic oil?

What is a demonstrable fact, however, is that this "deep earth oil" carries further potential for natural radioactivity the deeper you go. NORM (Naturally Occuring Radioactive Materials) has been studied in locations such as New York and Texas. Uranium and Thorium are known by geologists to be plentiful deep in the Earth, so much so that modern oil companies use electronic detectors to sniff out helium and methane. Why? Because helium and methane are natural decay signifiers of Uranium and Thorium.

Therefore, the more methane you find from a "deep earth oil" reserve such as what BP and the Deepwater Horizon were drilling into, the greater possibility that you are releasing considerable amounts of radioactive material into the environment. That this radioactivity is "natural" is irrelevant, and doesn't make it any less deadly (in before Rush Limbaugh and Haley Barbour proclaim it to be all-natural and perfectly safe).

Considering that the flow from the BP leak is believed by experts to be 40% methane, this raises the question: how much natural radioactive material is correspondingly being spewed out with it?

No amount is a good amount.

Halliburton Crony Testifies, Calls Obama Plan a "Shakedown"

2010-06-17T10:26:00.007-04:00

Watching the congressional testimony on CNN just now, we saw Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) say that Obama's escrow plan for BP "amounts to a shakedown" and that he's "ashamed" of the White House. Barton's attempt to spin blame from BP to Obama is no shocker, since Barton has recently received campaign money from Halliburton.

According to Politico, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) and Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) have also allowed their pockets to be lined by Halliburton, and in May - after the Deepwater Horizon disaster was well underway. Even one Democrat, Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren, received money from Halliburton. Why? Perhaps it's because Boren is on the House Natural Resources Committee. Coincidence?

Federal election law currently permits any company's PACs to give campaign money to whomever they wish - even to lawmakers investigating their own industry.

(Barton is previously infamous for his claim that CO2 emissions couldn't possibly be causing global warming because CO2 is also in Coca-Cola, and that proof of its harmlessness could also be found in the fact that it's odorless, colorless, and tasteless.)

The "Natural Oil Seep" Controversy

2010-06-16T12:34:00.003-04:00

There's been some natter on the net lately about natural oil seeps, which conservative media outlets have been pouncing on as a means to diminish the public perception of the environmental damage BP has inflicted. FOX News' Trace Gallagher recently repeated the debunked myth that "more oil seeps through the ground off the coast of California than is ever spilled out there."

As Jamie Friedland eloquently notes:

The water in one location can only degrade so much oil at one time; an oil spill goes far beyond overwhelming the ocean's natural oil-coping mechanisms. And remember, the oil from all those natural seeps escapes year-round. Yes, the Gulf can degrade small amounts of oil within 5 days, continuously. But that oil-disposal capacity is always already in use, year-round. So any additional oil spilled does not follow that time line. It lasts much longer and has a much greater impact.

So, in conclusion, the Gulf has a limited ability to deal with oil that seeps out slowly and is widely dispersed. But those capabilities are constantly in use. This spill is gushing massive amounts of oil into one place. Marine ecosystems cannot cope with that assault. And don't forget the toxic dispersants that are accompanying the toxic oil, and the fact that most of the oil is still underwater, where it remains "fresh" (which, like "natural," does not mean good here) longer because it weathers more slowly there.

It's true, there are natural spots in the ocean floor that release tiny trickles of oil, but that doesn't somehow make the Deepwater Horizon incident any less of a big deal, nor does it serve to nullify the importance of the video of oil oozing from undersea cracks. Why? Because the presence of the cracks themselves in an area where we already know a great disturbance has occurred, heightens the potential for further disaster, as Admiral Thad Allen explained to the Washington Post:

"I would be cautious about putting any kind of kinetic energy on that well head, because what you may do is create open communication between the reservoir and the sea floor."

Admiral Allen made a similar warning during a C-span interview on May 26, adding that putting undue pressure on the well could result in oil seeping through cracks and through the seafloor, "and then be uncontrolled until the reservoir pressure equalized with the hydrostatic pressure; I think that's a risk that's too great to take a chance on, myself."

Even if these cracks in the seafloor existed before the BP explosions - and we don't know that they did - and even if they were already seeping oil, the underground disruption that BP has caused make what Admiral Allen fears possible. The distance between a vast undersea oil reserve and the ocean is already tenuous in a natural oil seep, thus the presence of one at the BP explosion site is not good news. Furthermore, these seeps caught by the ROV camera seem more active and more constant than most natural ones.

The presence of these oil-seeping cracks in the vicinity of the BP explosion site makes for greater potential disaster regardless of whether they were created by said explosion or were a pre-existing feature.

Video: Oil Leaking From Sea Floor

2010-06-14T23:58:00.001-04:00

This video finally confirms what BP has been denying all along: cracks are forming on the ocean floor and oil is seeping from them, suggesting that deep pressure is building underneath on a scale greater than anyone, including BP, could have foreseen. It is the best evidence so far that this is not merely an ecological tragedy, but an absolute global catastrophe that we may not even be able to stop via relief wells.

See it here.

Unseen Damage Beneath Ocean Floor

2010-06-14T23:28:00.006-04:00

Reports have been rampant of oil seeping up from cracks in the sea floor, and last week Senator Bill Nelson told MSNBC that he's heading an investigation into it:

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL): Andrea, we’re looking into something new right now, that there’s reports of oil that’s seeping up from the seabed... which would indicate, if that’s true, that the well casing itself is actually pierced... underneath the seabed. So, you know, the problems could be just enormous with what we’re facing.

Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC: Now let me understand better what you’re saying. If that is true that it is coming up form that seabed, even the relief well won’t be the final solution to cap this thing. That means that we’ve got oil gushing up at disparate places along the ocean floor.

Sen. Nelson: That is possible, unless you get the plug down low enough, below where the pipe would be breached.

Some scary talk from an interview with former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister in the Washington Post, Friday, June 11:

Q: What are the chances that the well casing below the sea floor has been compromised, and that gas and oil are coming up the outside of the well casing, eroding the surrounding soft rock. Could this lead to a catastrophic geological failure, unstoppable even by the relief wells?

Hofmeister: This is what some people fear has occurred. It is also why the "top kill" process was halted. If the casing is compromised the well is that much more difficult to shut down, including the risk that the relief wells may not be enough. If the relief wells do not result in stopping the flow, the next and drastic step is to implode the well on top of itself, which carries other risks as well.

And oil industry expert Bob Cavnar, speaking on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show, goes further still, actually using the term "doomsday scenario" on a mainstream media program:

The real doomsday scenario here... is if that casing gives up, and it does come through the other strings of pipe. Remember, it is concentric pipe that holds this well together. If it comes into the formation, basically, you‘ve got uncontrolled [oil] flow to the sea floor. And that is the doomsday scenario.

If it is true that the oil well casing and piping are damaged underground - and with the reports of cracks in the seafloor oozing oil, there is now every indication that they are - then this already sad story has just taken a most chilling turn.

BP Oil Leak Estimates Now Doubled

2010-06-11T14:40:00.003-04:00

The numbers regarding the amount of oil that has gushed from the leaking BP oil well keep getting worse, and unbelievably, BP is still trying to put a self-protecting spin on the situation. From CNN:

Researchers have doubled estimates of how much oil has been gushing from a ruptured BP well, reporting that up to 40,000 barrels, or 1.7 million gallons, a day may have escaped for weeks.

If the latest estimate is correct, that would mean 90.1 million gallons have spewed in the 53 days since the rig exploded. That's more than eight times the amount spilled by the supertanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

In other words, the skeptics and BP-apologists who have been parroting the line that "this isn't as bad as the Exxon Valdez" are not only wrong, they've been wrong since the very first week - according to the new estimates, this BP disaster was already worse than the Exxon Valdez back in April.

From Newsinferno:

Even with this higher number, there is still a good chance scientists are underestimating the true flow rate. That’s because the new figures do not count any increases that may have occurred since BP cut the well’s riser pipe to deploy a new containment system. BP had said prior to that operation that it could further increase the flow up to 20 percent. It will be several days before a new estimate taking that into account is available.

For its part, BP is downplaying the significance of the new estimate – something it seems to do every time news becomes worse. “The estimates of how much oil is actually coming out of the well we’ve made clear from the very beginning is just that, it’s an estimate,” BP Spokesman Hugh Depland told ABC News at an information session late Thursday arranged by the oil company and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Sunderland is Alive and Well

2010-06-11T07:16:00.002-04:00

From the Associated Press, 7:05 a.m. EDT:

CANBERRA, Australia — A 16-year-old California girl who was feared lost at sea while sailing solo around the world has been found alive and well, adrift in the southern Indian Ocean as rescue boats head toward her damaged yacht, officials said. After a tense 20 hours of silence, a search plane launched from Australia's west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday in the frigid southern seas where her boat was repeatedly knocked down by huge waves and she lost satellite phone contact.

And according to Abby's official blog:

We have just heard from the Australian Search and Rescue. The plane arrived on the scene moments ago. Wild Eyes is upright but her rigging is down. The weather conditions are abating. Radio communication was made and Abby reports that she is fine!

Abby Sunderland Lost at Sea?

2010-06-10T15:56:00.004-04:00

Abby Sunderland, 16, is feared lost at sea in her attempt to become the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the globe. Her brother Zac said Thursday afternoon that Abby's boat was most likely not completely submerged because there's another alarm that sends off a signal if it goes 15 feet underwater.

From ABC News:

Jeff Casher, an engineer on Sunderland's support team, told ABC News that he last spoke with the 16-year-old sailor before 6 a.m. PDT, after she had been knocked down twice during the night because of strong winds -- meaning that her sail had touched the water.

One of those knock-downs, Casher said, ripped the radar off the boat. She had been speaking with Casher on a satellite telephone earlier because of engine problems and was in the process of fixing those problems when she told Casher she'd call right back.

She has not been heard from since, except for the distress signals.

Bush, Cheney, and the BP Disaster

2010-06-10T14:25:00.003-04:00

American Progress has some spot-on analyses by Joshua Dorner and Rebecca Lefton on the direct cause-and-effect between the Bush-Cheney policies and the ongoing BP disaster. Some highlights:

"Lobbying records show that Andrew Lundquist, the executive director of Cheney’s energy task force, left government to become a lobbyist (at a firm later joined by since-jailed Deputy Secretary of the Interior Stephen J. Griles) and was actively lobbying on the legislation on behalf of BP and other energy companies. One of the worst elements of what has come to be known as the “Dick Cheney energy bill” had a direct role in eliminating the kind of regulatory oversight that may have prevented the blowout of BP’s Mississippi Canyon 252 well on April 20 of this year. Section 390 of the legislation dramatically expanded the circumstance under which drilling operations could forego environmental reviews and be approved almost immediately under so-called “categorical exclusions” from the National Environmental Policy Act."

"The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, achieved many of the goals set out by Cheney’s secret task force in 2001 and ushered in a new era of deregulation, self-regulation, and utter disregard for environmental and safety laws. It also coincided with a culture of deep and widespread corruption at the Interior Department, including the Minerals Management Service. This era unquestionably set the stage for the BP oil catastrophe—Cheney’s Katrina."

"Oil companies raked in record profits while benefitting from policies they wrote for themselves. These energy policies did nothing for our national security and left consumers to pay the price at the pump and on their energy bills, which rose more than $1,100 during the Bush administration."

"The Bush administration released the National Energy Policy Report on May 16 [2001]. President Bush appointed Vice President Cheney—who gave up his title as CEO of oil and gas company Halliburton to take on his new role—with developing a new energy policy swiftly after taking office. But Cheney’s relationship with Halliburton did not end. Cheney was kept on the company's payroll after retirement and retained around 430,000 shares of Halliburton stock.

The task force report was based on recommendations provided to Cheney from coal, oil, and nuclear companies and related trade groups—many of which were major contributors to Bush’s presidential campaign and to the Republican Party. Oil companies—including BP, the National Mining Association, and the American Petroleum Institute—secretly met with the Cheney and his staff as part of a task force to develop the country’s energy policy."

" Bush lifted the executive moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts on July 14 [2008]."

Dorner and Lefton's full reports for American Progress are must-reads - find them here and here.

Taylor Energy Oil Rig Confirmed Leaking

2010-06-09T04:51:00.003-04:00

The Wall Street Journal is now confirming our earlier reports about satellite imagery revealing another leak at another oil well in the Gulf.

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--A small amount of oil has been leaking into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from Taylor Energy-owned oil wells in the gulf since 2004, a spokeswoman for the U.S. secretary of the interior said in an email Tuesday.

The wells have been leaking since they were destroyed by a mudslide during Hurricane Ivan. The wells were leaking less than a third of a barrel of oil a day.

"There are hundreds of small oil leaks every year in the Gulf of Mexico, and each is reported immediately to the National Response Center to ensure appropriate actions are taken to mitigate all potential environmental impacts," Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the secretary of the interior, said in a statement.

Media reports had surfaced that Diamond Offhore Drilling Inc. (DO) was dealing with a leak at a Taylor-owned oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Diamond's rig, Ocean Saratoga, was performing plugging and abandonment work on the well, a Diamond Offshore spokesman said Tuesday."

According to a FOX News story, however, the leakage is "slight" and comes from three containment domes set in place to control leaks since 2004.

And Coast Guard representative Zachary Zubricki actually told Business Insider: "this is not a story." Leave that to us to decide.

Navy Underwater Vehicles Vanish

2010-06-08T23:46:00.003-04:00

Four unmanned underwater vehicles employed by the Navy on a routine training mission have vanished without a trace off the coast of Virginia, according to Hamptonroads.com:

The Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities were searching for the missing vehicles in the Thimble Shoals Channel between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a Navy news release said.

Communication was lost with four of the 13 unmanned vehicles Sunday about 1 p.m. while the vehicles were using bottom-mapping sonar to look for mine-like contacts in the water as part of the training. Search and recovery operations began immediately.

Efforts continued Monday using small-craft, shore-based teams, air assets and marine mammal systems, which could include sea lions and dolphins trained to hunt mines.

The cause of the vehicles’ disappearance is under investigation.

Is There Another Leak in the Gulf?

2010-06-04T13:28:00.005-04:00

According to a report on Business Insider:

Is there a separate Gulf oil leak at Platform #23051?

Satellite analysis blog SkyTruth has identified what looks like oil discharge coming from a rig located a few mile from the Mississippi Delta. Analyst John Amos asks readers for any information on the possible second leak.

This rig is owned by Taylor Energy, according to an MMS database. We have contacted the firm and are waiting for comment.

We just picked up the phone and called Taylor Energy ourselves. Whoever answered the phone (she identified herself only by saying "I just answer the phone") refused to comment on or deny the suggestions made by Business Insider.

When asked "Is there anyone else we can talk to?" she curtly replied, "No. They're all gone for the day."

"But dont they have cellphones?" I wondered. "Surely there's a number you can give me to reach someone else."

"No."

"Will there be a statement on this matter tomorrow, or in the near future?"

"No."

Now, it could well be that the initial reports of a possible leak are incorrect, exagerrated, or overblown. We're only inquiring about what their reaction is to the Business Insider and SkyTruth stories. But it's interesting that whoever answered the phone would not deny that such a leak existed.

Animal Photos BP Doesn't Want You To See

2010-06-04T12:55:00.004-04:00

Images above from here. Images below from here.

James Cameron on BP: "Morons"

2010-06-03T16:12:00.005-04:00

Avatar director James Cameron, an expert in underwater robotics and video, said Wednesday that BP has rejected his offer to help. From nydailynews.com:

"Over the last few weeks, I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital tech conference.

Cameron has done extensive work with robot submarines and underwater filming in his movies.

Earlier in the day he attended a conference with the Environmental Protection Agency and pushed to have the government get its own independent look at the leak.

"If you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron said.

Congressman Markey Condemns BP

2010-05-30T18:18:00.002-04:00

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House energy committee investigating the BP oil disaster, told CBS he now has no faith left in BP to make the catastrophic undersea gusher stop:

"I have no confidence whatsoever in BP. I think that they do not know what they are doing. They started off talking about golf balls going in as a junk shot. People thought they would be dependent on MIT or Cal Tech instead of the PGA and golf balls. That was in the first couple of weeks. So I don't think that people should really believe what BP is saying in terms of the likelihood of anything that they're doing is going to turn out as they're predicting," he said.

BP's "Top Kill" Fails

2010-05-29T23:04:00.004-04:00

From Climate Progress:

Three attempts to pump mud and 16 tries to stuff solid material into a breached Gulf of Mexico oil well failed to stop the flow, top BP executives said Saturday, and engineers and executives with the oil giant have decided to “move on to the next option.”

That option is a vaguely-defined cap called the "Lower Marine Riser Package". How is it different from the previous dome they tried to cap the leak with? They didn't say.

As the mood gets progressively grimmer in the Gulf, some voices have begun to express fear that the relief well - something BP says is the only permanent solution - may not even be able to make it stop. We won't know until August, when BP plans to put such a well in place.

PBS: Live Video Feed From BP

2010-05-27T14:50:00.000-04:00

Leak Supposedly Stopped, Now Raging Again

2010-05-27T14:03:00.009-04:00

At 10:29am EDT today, Yahoo News reported that BP had successfully stopped the oil leak, but cautioned it was still too early to declare victory. Apparently that caveat was indeed a prudent one, because as of this writing - 1:57pm EDT - the gusher is still going on strong as ever, as seen on the live cam. It does, however, look somewhat muddier than before. BP chief executive Tony Hayward said that it would be at least 24 hours before officials know whether the attempt has been successful.

The company intends to eventually inject cement into the well to permanently seal it. Just how they intend to accomplish this is not certain, since cement's failure to hold back the powerful pressure of the gusher is precisely what caused this disaster in the first place.

The mud-pumping technique being used is explained here on Reuters.

Cousteau Takes Hazmat Dive Into Oil, Reports Corexit Isn't Working

2010-05-26T09:19:00.004-04:00

Click here to see a disturbing video of Phillipe Cousteau Jr. and Sam Champion donning Hazmat diving suits and surveying the scene underwater at the BP oil disaster.

The Corexit chemical dispersant being used heavily by BP (against the EPA's orders to scale it down) is not dispersing the oil, the divers found. The Corexit is only combining the oil into small globules, making the situation even worse.

"A lot of people are saying when you apply the chemical dispersant, it disappears, the oil goes away," Champion said. "This is evidence that doesn't happen."

Is BP Trying to Cover Up New Activity at Disaster Site?

2010-05-25T19:31:00.004-04:00

At about 7:00pm EST, the BP live cam showed a sudden explosive occurrence - possibly two - taking place at the leak site, with the amount of oil increasing rapidly and the color of the outflow changing to a lighter hue.

The camera was quickly cut to a different shot, one that showed a higher-up view of the plume but actually only further illustrated the extremely volatile change that had just occurred. Then it settled on an angle with the view obstructed by another piece of robotic equipment.

By 7:30 the live cam relay had switched to a menu showing multiple monitor feeds, and shortly thereafter CNN pulled the feed entirely and switched to coverage of the Senate floor.

As of this writing - 7:44pm EST - the link to the live cam has vanished from CNN's front page. However, by following the old bookmarked link, the live cam is back online as of at least 7:49pm. The current shot is taken from a greater distance, and if you compare the relative size of the pipe and the plume to screenshots from days past, it's evident the plume is much larger now and seemingly flowing harder.

Gulf Residents Reporting Smell of Oil

2010-05-15T11:46:00.003-04:00

From USA Today:

Some Gulf residents say they smell the deep sea oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill.

"It's chemical, and I'm trying not to think about it," Raymond Dillon, a New Orleans resident told the New York Times.

People in Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Gulfport, Miss., have also reported a petroleum stench, according to McLatchy Newspapers. The smell can pop up anywhere along the Coast, depending on the wind, the story says.

The air quality remains safe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. More than 800 air samples are being tested daily.

Tar balls were found on the beach at Port Fourchon, Louisiana wildlife officials said Friday.

U.S. Government Tries to Avoid Public Panic Over BP's Disaster

2010-05-10T23:05:00.004-04:00

Wayne Madsen has a sobering and shocking article about BP and the Obama administration's attempts to prevent mass panic by downplaying the true nature of the ongoing Deepwater Horizon disaster. An excerpt follows:

Plans by BP to sink a 4-story containment dome over the oil gushing from a gaping chasm one kilometer below the surface of the Gulf, where the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and killed 11 workers on April 20, and reports that one of the leaks has been contained is pure public relations disinformation designed to avoid panic and demands for greater action by the Obama administration, according to FEMA and Corps of Engineers sources. Sources within these agencies say the White House has been resisting releasing any "damaging information" about the oil disaster. They add that if the ocean oil geyser is not stopped within 90 days, there will be irreversible damage to the marine eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico, north Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf.

The Obama administration also conspired with BP to fudge the extent of the oil leak, according to our federal and state sources. After the oil rig exploded and sank, the government stated that 42,000 gallons per day was gushing from the seabed chasm. Five days later, the federal government upped the leakage to 210,000 gallons a day.

However, WMR has been informed that submersibles that are monitoring the escaping oil from the Gulf seabed are viewing television pictures of what is a "volcanic-like" eruption of oil. Moreover, when the Army Corps of Engineers first attempted to obtain NASA imagery of the Gulf oil slick -- which is larger than that being reported by the media -- it was turned down. However, National Geographic managed to obtain the satellite imagery shots of the extent of the disaster and posted them on their web site.

There is other satellite imagery being withheld by the Obama administration that shows what lies under the gaping chasm spewing oil at an ever-alarming rate is a cavern estimated to be around the size of Mount Everest. This information has been given an almost national security-level classification to keep it from the public, according to our sources.

The figure of 200,000 gallons a day is, in itself, also a fabrication. Many reputable news sources - including The Independent in the UK - now place the rate of spewage around 1,000,000 gallons a day, and even that figure is probably underestimating the true amount.

Chevron Begins Deep Drilling in Newfoundland

2010-05-10T07:10:00.005-04:00

You'd think the current global disaster incurred by BP drilling too deeply for oil would have taught Chevron something. But they seem unable or unwilling to heed the lesson: they're actually going forward with plans to do deep drilling in Newfoundland, according to CBC.

And since the temperature in Newfoundland is far more freezing cold than that which BP engineers encountered at 5000 ft. in the Gulf of Mexico, a catastrophic oil leak could be even more unfixable. BP's attempt to cover the leak with a hastily-contrived dome failed because of the extreme cold, as well as the extreme pressure.

But scientist Bill Montevecchi says Chevron's plan is unsound.

Chevron plans to drill in 2,600 metres of water, or more than a kilometre deeper than the Deepwater Horizon project off Louisiana, where thousands of barrels of oil have spewed daily since an April 20 rupture and explosion.

Bill Montevecchi, a Memorial University seabird researcher, questions whether the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board — which regulates the oil industry — even knows enough about the offshore to protect the environment.

"We're about to charge ahead and assume we have a safety regime in place that's adequate, when in fact we've never had an independent observer on a platform," Montevecchi said.

Montevecchi said there should be a moratorium on deepsea drilling off Newfoundland until much stronger environmental safety rules are in place.

BP Oil Disaster Reaches Alabama?

2010-05-08T21:17:00.004-04:00

Globs of tar are now washing up on the coast of Alabama, in the Dauphin Island area. The gooey muck has been collected by officials and sent to labs for analysis. It has not yet been conclusively determined whether the tar comes from the Deepwater Horizon incident, but according to Mayor Jeff Collier, "we certainly assume that to be the case."

BP spokesman John Curry had already confirmed that oil has impacted Freemason Island, just south of the Chandeleur Islands. Further reports followed with other sightings of oil washing up on the Chandeleur Islands.

Containment Dome Fails

2010-05-08T20:20:00.006-04:00

Predictably enough, the containment dome that BP attempted to put in place over the spewing oil vent on the ocean floor has failed, and failed miserably. And if the situation weren't so grave, BP's response would be hilarious:

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. "What I would say is what we attempted to do ... didn't work."

BP officials said it would be at least Monday before they decide on what the next step to take would be. It took two weeks for engineers to hastily build this box and three days to bring it to the site. As predicted by many experts (including us), it didn't work. Frozen methane hydrate formations (referred to ominously in some press reports as "icelike crystals") rapidly built up on the surface and clogged the works.

The Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, about three weeks ago. Since then, approximately 210,000 gallons of crude a day has been flowing into the Gulf - and some estimates are placing the quantity much higher.

A group of BP corporate executives were on the platform when the incident occurred, and many were injured. Ironically, they were gathered there that day to celebrate the historic technological achievement they were undertaking, as well as pat themselves on the back for their safety record.

The Obama administration has vowed that BP will pay in full for the global mess they have caused, but most citizens are skeptical. After all, Obama also vowed to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Photo: Sindh Today.

Class Action Suit Against BP

2010-05-06T00:38:00.002-04:00

There's going to be a lot more like this: A class action has been filed on behalf of all Louisiana commercial fishermen and charter boat operators who have suffered from the recent Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Defendants named in the complaint include BP, PLC, and BP America, Inc. (which owned the oil well), Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. (which leased the oil rig to BP), Halliburton (which was engaged in cementing operations at the well), and Cameron International Corporation (which supplied the blowout preventer valves for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that failed to activate.)

Get more details and see the complaint in full at The BP Oil Spill Legal Network.

Throwing Toxins at Toxins

2010-05-05T23:59:00.007-04:00

As the New York Times puts it, BP is now "engaging in one of the largest and most aggressive experiments with chemical dispersants in the history of the country, and perhaps the world."

So far they've sprayed over 160,000 gallons of so-called "chemical dispersant" on the surface of the ocean above the Deepwater Horizon underwater oil leak. Furthermore, they've pumped an additional 6,000 gallons directly onto the leak itself. These chemicals - which is in themselves poisonous to marine life - are being judged as the lesser of two evils when compared to the oil.

We disagree.

First of all, the exact chemical makeup of these dispersants is unknown and is legally considered a "trade secret" by the corporations like Nalco that manufacture them. If BP is going to dump these toxic chemical mixtures into the ocean in a misguided effort to clean up the toxic chemicals they've already caused to contaminate the ocean, we believe the public has a right to know what's in them.

Secondly, the function of these dispersants is not to remove the oil, but to bind with it on the molecular level and break it down into super-tiny droplets. These droplets of oil then will be quickly assimilated into the ocean and "disappear" as they spread out. Just because you can no longer see the oil doesn't mean it isn't still there, and doesn't make it any less toxic.

From Bellona:

"...one of British Petroleum’s most guarded secrets was revealed today: what kind of dispersant they are using in clean-up efforts. It turns out to be toxic Corexit 9500, as clean-up workers here had earlier told Bellona.

That Corexit 9500 was being used by BP to disperse the spill was revealed by the dispersant's manufacturer, Nalco Holding Company of Naperville, Illinois. Nalco's CEO, Erik Frywald, today expressed his company’s commitment to "helping the people and environment of the Gulf Coast recover as rapidly as possible."

Corexit 9500 is associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems as sides effects at high doses to clean-up workers. 2-BE has also been documented to cause the breakdown of red blood cells, leading to blood in urine and feces, and can damage the kidneys, liver, spleen and bone marrow of humans – effects not included on the information sheet for workers."

Can the Ocean Withstand 3 Months of Spewing Oil?

2010-05-04T10:15:00.007-04:00

From FOX News:

It will take at least three months to effectively stop the flow of oil rushing through a damaged well that is leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, and now National Incident Commander of the Gulf Coast oil spill said Monday morning.

Three months? But what will happen if this hole in the ocean floor continues to spew oil at its current rate? Opinions on the subject are ranging from alarmist to blasé. It's our reckoning here at Meta-Oceanic that the Deepwater Horizon crew have punched a hole in something that should never have been messed with, and now they have no clue how to stop it.

The oil spill is now the size of Delaware, and is growing at a frightening rate. According to one commenter's calculations on Reddit:

"If you take the surface area of all the unenclosed water on Earth as 139.480x10E6 sq mi, and you take this rate of spread (estimated from the satellite images between 3 days) then the ENTIRE EARTH WILL BE COVERED IN OIL IN 124.3 DAYS"

That's probably an extreme exaggeration, but no one can really say for certain - because nothing like this has ever happened in human history.

According to another scary report floating around the internet, allegedly written by an anonymous engineer, claims:

First, the BP platform was drilling for what they call deep oil. They go out where the ocean is about 5,000 feet deep and drill another 30,000 feet into the crust of the earth. This it right on the edge of what human technology can do. Well, this time they hit a pocket of oil at such high pressure that it burst all of their safety valves all the way up to the drilling rig and then caused the rig to explode and sink. Take a moment to grasp the import of that. The pressure behind this oil is so high that it destroyed the maximum effort of human science to contain it.

First they have to get the oil rig off the hole to get at it in order to try to cap it. Do you know the level of effort it will take to move that wrecked oil rig, sitting under 5,000 feet of water? That operation alone would take years and hundreds of millions to accomplish. Then, how do you cap that hole in the muddy ocean floor? There just is no way. No way.

If we can't cap that hole that oil is going to destroy the oceans of the world. It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife. Are you starting to get the magnitude of this?

The New York Times is reporting that lawyers for a worker who was on Deepwater Horizon at the time of the April 20 explosion had charged that the rig was drilling deeper than 22,000 feet, even though the company’s federal permit allowed it to go only to 18,000-20,000 feet deep. BP denies the claim. Halliburton, who are also said to be guilty of Earth-threatening malfeasance in this incident, also deny culpability.

Ocean Acidity Skyrocketing

2010-04-26T12:08:00.004-04:00

The National Research Council has some pretty grim and sobering things to say about the state of the world's oceans.

The oceans have become more acidic in the last few years than at any time in human history. Oceans absorb about one-third of all human-generated carbon dioxide emissions, including those from burning fossil fuels, cement production and deforestation, the NRC report says.

From the Santiago Times:

“The chemistry of the ocean is changing at an unprecedented rate and magnitude due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions,” the U.S. National Research Council said. “The rate of change exceeds any known to have occurred for at least the past hundreds of thousands of years.”

Ocean acidification eats away at coral reefs, interferes with some fish species' ability to find their homes and can hurt commercial shellfish such as mussels and oysters by reducing their ability to make their protective shells.

When carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans, it reacts with sea water to form carbonic acid. Unless human carbon dioxide emissions are curbed, oceans will grow more acidic, the report said.

Ocean Floor Rising 13 Feet A Day?

2010-04-13T22:55:00.004-04:00

There's a Coral Sea tsunami station located at 14.803 S 153.585 E (14°48'9" S 153°35'6" E), and it's been in "event mode" ever since the large earthquakes recently occurred in the area. Apparently, the buoy is being triggered by anomalous water column height above the sea floor, and the data seems to show that the ocean floor beneath the buoy is rising at the alarming rate of thirteen feet per day. View the Coral Sea tide chart here.

The location is also close to the Vanuatu Islands, which have been abruptly volcanically hyperactive for several months now.

Deepest Undersea Vent Discovered in Caribbean

2010-04-12T21:30:00.003-04:00

From Discovery:

Over three miles down in the ocean, where the Caribbean Sea's warm blue waters fade into lightless black, scientists have found something bizarre and wonderful: the deepest active hydrothermal vent system on the planet.

As incredible as the find itself are the details: the smokers spew water hot enough to melt lead. The smokers' waters are so packed with minerals that their two-story high chimneys are basically made of iron and copper ore. An and around the vents gardens of strange bacteria flourish.

The existence of life thriving in this, the most inhospitable conditions ever recorded, virtually proves the potential for life to exist on other planets, which often are composed of similar mineral-rich boiling chemical soups.

And just last month, a NASA team discovered higher life forms surviving beneath a 600-foot-deep Antarctic ice sheet.

Clearly, life is - and can be - everywhere and anywhere.

7.1 Earthquake in Solomon Islands

2010-04-11T14:50:00.004-04:00

From Xinhua:

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Solomon Islands on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported Sunday with no immediate tsunami alert or reports of damage.

The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) quoted USGS as saying the quake's epicenter was 52 km deep, 97 km southwest of the Solomon Islands' Kira Kira in the Pacific Ocean. It hit at 8:40 p. m. local time.

ABC quoted Pacific Tsunami Warning Center as saying there was no destructive widespread tsunami threat, but it warned " Authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of this possibility and take action."

8.0 Earthquake Reported, Retracted

2010-04-02T22:24:00.005-04:00

The USGS sent out an email report regarding an 8.0 quake near Higey, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic, but the internal link was broken.

Going directly to the USGS website shows no mention of the quake. Neither does a quick check of web, news, and blogosphere, which mainly consists of other people going "what the heck just happened?"

(Update: Apparently the report is indeed false.)

Undersea Volcano Could Destroy Italy

2010-04-02T00:33:00.000-04:00

From The Australian:

Europe's largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy "at any time", a prominent vulcanologist has warned.
The Marsili volcano, which is bursting with magma, has "fragile walls" that could collapse, Enzo Boschi told the leading daily Corriere della Sera.

"It could even happen tomorrow," Prof Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said

"Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions," he said.

"All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time."

The event would result in "a strong tsunami that could strike the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily," Prof Boschi said.

Lord Howe Island's Bleached Reef Proves Climate Change

2010-04-01T21:11:00.002-04:00

From ABC Australia:

Parts of the world's most southerly coral reef are under threat after it suffered its largest-recorded bleaching event.

Lord Howe Island is well known for its pristine environment and natural beauty.

The island's isolation has allowed it to develop unique and endemic marine life and the waters contain an unusual mix of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate corals.

But since January the waters around Lord Howe have experienced unusually warmer temperatures. The average rose by two degrees Celsius and the corals are showing the first signs of extensive bleaching.

And unlike the Great Barrier Reef, where corals have been known to recover, the genetically unique reef at Lord Howe could take decades to regenerate.

Peter Harrison from the Southern Cross University says it is the most significant bleaching event ever recorded at Lord Howe Island.

"The significance of this is that Lord Howe Island has the southern-most coral reef, so when that starts to see signs of extensive coral bleaching we know that the climate is definitely changing," he said.

The Search for Air France Flight 447

2010-03-30T22:39:00.004-04:00

On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft departed from Rio de Janeiro on 31 May 2009 at 19:03 local time (22:03 UTC), with a scheduled arrival in Paris, France approximately 11 hours later.

The last verbal contact with Flight 447 was at 01:33 UTC, when it was near waypoint INTOL located 565 km (351 mi) off Natal, in Brazil's north-eastern coast.

Although some bodies and debris were found floating on the ocean's surface, the actual plane itself - and/or its black box flight recorder - have never been found. There was no last-minute message from the crew of flight 447, and we have no idea exactly where it disappeared.

This week, a new search begins for the missing plane, using some of the latest high-tech underwater equipment. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will operate three unmanned deep-sea probes that, according to NPR:

"...run autonomously from any surface control tether and have the capability to dive down to full ocean depth... They were used in an unsuccessful underwater search for the plane that adventurer Amelia Earhart disappeared in 73 years ago. Each vehicle employs sea floor-scanning sonar, as well as cameras."

BPA from Plastics Pervades our Oceans

2010-03-26T09:04:00.003-04:00

From Wired:

A survey of 200 sites in 20 countries around the world has found that bisphenol A, a synthetic compound that mimics estrogen and is linked to developmental disorders, is ubiquitous in Earth’s oceans.

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is found mostly in shatter-proof plastics and epoxy resins. Most people have trace amounts in their bodies, likely absorbed from food containers. Its hormone-mimicking properties make it a potent endocrine system disruptor.

In recent years, scientists have moved from studying BPA’s damaging effects in laboratory animals to linking it to heart disease, sterility and altered childhood development in humans. Many questions still remain about dosage effects and the full nature of those links, but in January the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that “recent studies provide reason for some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children.”

One disturbing possibility is that BPA could bioaccumulate, with animals eating BPA-tainted animals that have eaten BPA-tainted animals, finally reaching high concentrations in top-level ocean predators and the humans who eat them.

Manatee Deaths Skyrocket Due To Cold

2010-03-24T09:58:00.003-04:00

From ABC Action News:

TALLAHASEE, FL -- Florida Fish and Wildlife Officials announced Tuesday that due to the prolonged cold temperatures the past three months, 431 manatee deaths have already been documented.

Officials say exposure to low temperatures for a long period of time can cause a condition called "manatee cold-stress syndrome," which can result in death.

Last year the FWC documented 429 manatee deaths, which exceeded the highest number on record until now.

The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Director said the rate of mortality so far this year is of great concern and that they will focus on determining the long-term implications for the manatee population.

Nanotech Seawater Desalination

2010-03-23T23:05:00.002-04:00

Although large-scale, inefficient factory-sized plants to exist to process the salt out of salt water, the idea of cheap and portable system for individual use has always been a pipe dream. Until now.

From Nanowerk:

Freshwater could become the oil of the 21st century – scarce, expensive and fought over. While over 70 per cent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, most of it is unusable for human consumption.

Researchers have now demonstrated a new, efficient and fouling-free desalination process based on the ion concentration polarization (ICP) phenomenon – a fundamental electrochemical transport phenomenon that occurs when an ion current is passed through ion-selective membranes – for direct desalination of sea water.

5.1 Earthquake Near Easter Island

2010-03-17T01:11:00.004-04:00

This just in: a 5.1 earthquake has struck near Easter Island at approximately 04:00:26 UTC, Coordinated Universal Time. (Midnight, EDT.)

The quake has a reported depth of 10 km (6.2 miles) and occurred 380 km (235 miles) West of Hanga Roa, Easter Island. No other information is known at this time.

Easter Island is still recovering from the recent tsunami wave that followed in the wake of the disastrous Chilean quake.

Creatures Survive Under Antarctic Ice Sheet

2010-03-16T00:07:00.001-04:00

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.

Six hundred feet below the ice where no light shines, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes could exist.

That's why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antarctica. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera's cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle they believe came from a foot-long jellyfish.

"We were operating on the presumption that nothing's there," said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler, who will be presenting the initial findings and a video at an American Geophysical Union meeting Wednesday. "It was a shrimp you'd enjoy having on your plate."

"We were just gaga over it," he said of the 3-inch-long, orange critter starring in their two-minute video. Technically, it's not a shrimp. It's a Lyssianasid amphipod, which is distantly related to shrimp.

The video is likely to inspire experts to rethink what they know about life in harsh environments. And it has scientists musing that if shrimp-like creatures can frolic below 600 feet of Antarctic ice in subfreezing dark water, what about other hostile places? What about Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter?

"They are looking at the equivalent of a drop of water in a swimming pool that you would expect nothing to be living in and they found not one animal but two," said biologist Stacy Kim of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California, who joined the NASA team later. "We have no idea what's going on down there."

Russian Permafrost Leaking Methane

2010-03-15T00:02:00.002-04:00

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — Methane is leaking into the atmosphere from unstable permafrost in the Arctic Ocean faster than scientists had thought and could worsen global warming, a study said Thursday.

From 2003 to 2008, an international research team led by University of Alaska-Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov surveyed the waters of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, which covers more than 772,200 square miles (two million square kilometers) of seafloor in the Arctic Ocean.

"This discovery reveals a large but overlooked source of methane gas escaping from permafrost underwater, rather than on land," the study said.

"More widespread emissions could have dramatic effects on global warming in the future."

Earlier studies in Siberia had focused on methane escaping from thawing permafrost on land.

Scientists have long thought that the permafrost under the East Siberian Arctic Shelf acted as an impermeable barrier that sealed in methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 30 times more potent that carbon dioxide.

But the research team's observations showed that the permafrost submerged on the shelf is perforated and leaking large amounts of methane into the atmosphere.

More than 80 percent of the deep water and more than half of surface water had methane levels around eight times higher than found in normal seawater, according to the study published in the journal Science.

The researchers warned that the release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.

"Ocean-bottom permafrost contains vast amounts of carbon, and experts are concerned that its release as methane gas would lead to warmer atmospheric temperatures, thus creating a positive-feedback loop that would lead to more methane escaping from the permafrost and more global warming," they said.

Katie Spotz Successfully Rows Across Atlantic

2010-03-14T22:08:00.003-04:00

From the Associated Press:

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — A 22-year-old American rower completed a solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, touching a pier in the coffee-brown waters of Guyana to claim a record as the youngest person to accomplish the feat.

Katie Spotz, who spent more than two months alone at sea, hugged her father and brother as 200 people cheered her arrival in this South American capital.

"The hardest part was just the solo part," Spotz said, saying she struggled with boredom and had trouble sleeping inside the cramped, 19-foot (6-meter) row boat.

The athlete from Mentor, Ohio, set out from Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 3 and endured rough seas during the 2,817-mile (4,533-kilometer) crossing. She traveled without any support boat aside from a Coast Guard vessel that escorted her to Guyana's coast.

She rowed to raise money and awareness for the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a nonprofit whose goal is to bring clean drinking water to the estimated 1 billion people worldwide who lack it.

"The records are just a bonus for Katie. Rowing the Atlantic and raising funds for clean water are the things she really cares about," said her coach Sam Williams...

Some of the most harrowing moments came near the voyage's end. As she approached the continental shelf, waves crashed over the boat and Spotz worried it would capsize. On Saturday, she had to use a fire extinguisher after a piece of tracking equipment caught fire.

Dislodged Iceberg May Disrupt Ocean Currents

2010-03-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

Earlier this month, a giant iceberg collided with a portion of the Mertz Glacier in Antarctica, and in so doing broke off an immense "Superberg" that is 48 miles long and about 24 miles wide.

According to Circle of Blue, scientists are concerned about global ocean currents being drastically altered now that the detached iceberg has endangered a major polynya (an ice-free area of water surrounded by sea ice).

It's believed that 25% of Antarctic bottom water originated in the polynya, making it an important factor in the ocean's circulation. If sea ice fills in the polynya, it could slow the ocean bottom currents which are crucial for transferring heat and distributing oxygen. Needless to say, a drastic change such as this could very well have a catastrophic effect on marine ecosystems around the world.

Undersea Bacterial Power Grids

2010-03-01T22:57:00.004-05:00

This from Ocean Leadership:

Oxygen-breathing bacteria that live on the ocean bottom have a problem. Those sitting atop the sediment have ready access to oxygen in the water but not to the precious mineral nutrients that lie out of reach a centimeter or so below the ground. Meanwhile, those microbes that live in the sediment can access the nutrients, but they lack oxygen. How do both groups survive?

Microbial ecologist Lars Peter Nielsen of Aarhus University in Denmark figured the surface and subsurface bacteria were somehow exchanging oxygen and nutrients with one another. To find out how, he and colleagues scooped up some mud from the bottom of the 20-meter-deep ocean in Aarhus Bay and other waters near the university and plopped it into a beaker in their lab.

Then the researchers did something they knew would make the bacteria unhappy: They started removing the oxygen from the water. If the bacteria were swapping materials, as Nielsen had suspected, those living below the surface of the mud would have gradually noticed that their oxygen supply was being cut off; they would have registered chemical changes in the sediment that could be detected by sensors. But instead, Nielsen and colleagues witnessed something far more rapid. Almost as soon as the researchers began removing the oxygen, the subsurface bacteria stopped consuming hydrogen sulfide in the mud. More important, this metabolic shutdown was a sign that the buried bacteria almost instantly realized something in the environment far above them had changed. The researchers also detected very rapid pH changes in the water in the beaker.

These responses occurred too quickly for any sort of chemical exchange or molecular process such as osmosis, says Nielsen. The most plausible option, his team reports in the 25 February issue of Nature, is that the bacteria are somehow communicating electrically by transmitting electrons back and forth. How exactly they do this is unclear, but Nielsen suspects the organisms may all be connected to each other via a microscopic electric grid, possibly made from tiny grains of metal, such as iron and manganese, in the sediment.

Pacific Nations Breathe Sigh of Relief

2010-02-28T07:42:00.004-05:00

The much-feared tsunami that followed in the wake of the Chilean earthquake turned to be, thankfully, a tempest in a teapot.

As it stands now, only Robinson Crusoe Island and Easter Island seem to have suffered serious damage. However, since this particular tsunami is a series of waves rather than one unified one, many nations are still wary even as they call off the threat alert.

Eduardo Avila has an excellent post on Global Voices Online, and points to a resident of Easter Island, Alejandro Tucki (@JanoTC), who tweeted a photo (see above) of a rock wall turned to debris by the tsunami.