ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style6 { height: 69px; } h2 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style7 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140" class="style6"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" class="style6"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2"></td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">BP&#39;s Oil Disaster Squared</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright May 20, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style7">G</span>oing from bad to worse, British Petroleum dumped hundreds-of-thousands of gallons of chemical dispersants to offset a mushrooming oil spill<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>begun April 20 when its oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Since then, estimates have varied regarding the amount of crude oil spewing from the broken well-head, 5,000 feet below the ocean s surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>BP officials only yesterday released a video to the U.S. Senate confirming the extent of the primordial ooze, estimated at over 5,000 barrels or 200,000 gallons a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>So far, BP s efforts to cap the busted well have failed, though they claim new containment efforts using a tube extraction method have slowed the original flow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>New video footage shows a far larger spew than BP s original estimates, raising even greater fears about an ecological disaster of unprecedented proportions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Federal officials now have growing concerns about BP s use of highly toxic chemical dispersants, promising, with the best of intentions, to pollute the Gulf waters more than the organic sludge oozing from the well s broken pipes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While BP originally estimated a leak of 1,000 barrels or 42,000 gallons a day, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration place the figure at 5,000 barrels a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Private estimates have ranged up to five times the NOAA estimates, attesting to the urgency of slowing down the leak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It was always made clear that this was a ballpark estimate, said BP s chief spokesman Andrew Gowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Of immediate concern is BP s use of Corexit 9500A and Corexit 9527A, already applying 600,000 gallons to the surface and 55,000 gallons underwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Alarmed by BP s actions, the Environmental Protection Agency demanded changes to chemical dispersants.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>What the EPA wants to avert is BP destroying the Gulf s fragile marine ecosystem by dumping millions of gallons of toxic chemicals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Dispersants have never been used in this volume before, said an unnamed EPA official, concerned about BP worsening the ecological disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There s too little info on the short- and long-term hazardous effects of chemical dispersants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This is a large amount of dispersants being used, larger than have ever been used, on a pipe that continues to leak oil and that BP is still trying to cap, concerned that the effects of chemical dispersants could be far worse than the gooey mess on marshlands and beaches from the actual underwater oil leak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> We ll only use approved products, any dispersant that will be used going forward will be subject to government review and approval, BP spokesman Robert Rinehart wrote in a recent e-mail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Government approval of existing chemicals can t possibly assure environmental safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No approved product offers guarantees of environmental safety, since the government has no data on the effect of quantities used in the current oil spill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Since the oil disaster hit April 20, President Barack Obama has been sensitive to the criticism encountered by the Bush administration for its feckless response to 2005 Hurricane Katrina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If BP causes a worst ecological disaster by dumping toxic chemicals into the Gulf, the Obama administration will take the heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>EPA officials don t trust BP to do the right thing, especially since no one knows the adverse effects of chemical dispersants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No one knows for sure what s worse:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The effect of crude oil in the ocean or on the marine environment or toxic effects of chemical dispersants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> EPA officials don t want to make a bad situation worse.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</span>Unable yet to cap the well, BP officials are scrambling to fix a disaster of epic proportions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Coexit was readily available in quantities required by the spill response plan which was pre-approved by the government for use in spill response, said BP spokesman Steve Rinehart, wanting to go full-steam ahead with plans to continue releasing hundreds-of-thousands of gallons of chemicals into the Gulf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) questioned BP s approach, raising concerns about Coexit s toxicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Markey demanded that EPA director Lisa Jackson urgently examine BP s continued plan to use of Coexit, when the chemical has been banned in the U.K. for over 10 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Markey sees a very real possibility of BP s solution causing more harm to the environment than the damaged underwater well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>So far, BP s response to the crisis has been its own disaster.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>EPA officials are right to question the advisability of dumping hundreds-of-thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The effect of the long-term use of dispersants on the marine ecosystem has not been extensively studied, and we need to act with the utmost of caution, Markey told the EPA for taking swift.action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>BP s response to its oil rig disaster demonstrates as lack of emergency plans to manage what s become the worst environmental crisis in U.S. history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Reassurances about accepting responsibility and paying the freight doesn t undo catastrophic damage to U.S. costal waters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Hastily dumping untold volumes of toxic chemicals into the Gulf could have far worse environmental consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>U.S. authorities must demand better safeguards before allowing more offshore drilling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>More empty promises and quick-fixes from BP do nothing to fix the problem. </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis </b>writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He&#x2019;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homecobolos> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>