Mellow Monday: June 7 BP Oil Spill Update

1. Three-Day oil forecast.

NOAA projects the leading edge of BP's oil spill, nudged by "persistent southerly winds" will continue hugging the coast of Northwest Florida over the next three days. (Click here or on graphic, above, for enlarged view.)

Monday morning on the beach, however, a light, hot wind was blowing north-to-south, just as weatherman Matt Barrentine (Channel 10, Mobile) predicted:

2. Clean beach.

Despite the new "don't touch oil" warning on the electronic greeting board for those entering the beach (see left), so far today there have been almost no reports of tarballs or oil sheen.

Of course, this disappoints all the robots inside the media trucks gathered at Casino Beach (see right). They're waiting impatiently for the chance to break into the news cycle with blood-stirring bulletins of an oil tsunami.

On the other hand, a good many of the human TV crew members we've met have fond personal memories of vacationing on Pensacola Beach. More than a few even lived here for a time in their younger days.

It's plain to see they're just as happy to see the oil stay away. Plus, the rest breaks are more relaxing:

3. Sarcastic Sand Sculptures.

Yesterday, as the local newspaper reports, "sand art" blossomed on the beach. More than one of the sand sculptures in the annual Five Flags Festival contest struck an oily theme.

One incorporated tarballs as the eyes of a large crab. Another was a gargoyle with a sickly green hue named "Mr. BP."

All were still visible this morning. Some were more at risk from the next high tide than any oil.

Our personal favorite, for both aesthetic and political reasons, is the sand art entry submitted by David and Kathy Bosso. Judging from the comments we overheard from discerning beach-goers, it's their favorite, too (click graphic for enlarged view):



4. Tarball Report.

On most of the 15 mile stretch of sugar white sand which we saw this morning there was no sign of oil. Beach walkers, curiosity seekers, surfers, swimmers, sunbathers, lifeguards, and park rangers, all told us they had seen no tarballs or new evidence of oil.

Apparently, however, one report had been made of small tarballs on a stretch of beach just west of Pensacola Beach's "Ft. Pickens Picnic Area," inside the federal park itself.

This is where we saw two of the best-equipped beach cleaning squads we have witnessed in the past week. They were all outfitted with hazmat suits, armed with appropriate tools and water for today's expected heat index of 105+, and afforded the shade of two tents for frequent breaks.

That's the way all clean-up crews should be outfitted. But we worry that BP Corp. has subcontracted to other companies much of the beach clean-up responsibility and then defaulted in its responsibility to ensure that subcontractors treat their clean-up employees with fairness and humanity.

5. Bay Booms.

Because the oil arrived last Friday and continues to hang around just offshore, booms now have been stretched at least part-way across the entrance to Pensacola Bay, known as Pensacola Pass, and the much narrower entrance to Little Sabine Bay at Pensacola Beach.

At the pass, frankly, it's hard to see what good they will do. Although the water was unusually calm this morning, most of the time the surface waters at the pass are choppy. That's where most tourists learn whether they're prone to seasickness. Large amounts of oil will have no trouble sloshing over the planned V-shaped boom.

The boom isn't quite closed at Little Sabine Bay, for good reason. Some charter boats anchored there are still hopeful of customers; many fishing boats have been hired by BP to scout the open Gulf waters for oil slicks. Both need to get in and out of Sabine Bay as well as Pensacola Bay.

6. Family Values on the Move.

Then there are the immigrant swans. They need access to Little Sabine Bay, too.

We happened to encounter a swan family moving into Sabine Bay this morning. Unlike human beings, swans are notoriously monogamous. They usually mate for life, although some Australia researchers think they have detected evidence that some of them are learning bad habits from humans.

Sorry, Arizona, we forgot to ask the swans for their papers. But we assume what we saw this morning was the more usual story-book "traditional American family unit" of a daddy swan, a mommy swan, and a baby swan.

Look carefully. Such an idealized family exists only among swans and in the fevered imaginations of right-wing preachers and hypocritical politicians.

7. EPA air monitors.

While we were wandering around the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, we spotted a number of multi-gas air quality detectors. They bear the ownership label of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and were placed inside the federally-maintained Ft. Pickens portion of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Not long after, we encountered a two-man team of environmental assessment specialists who also were touring the grounds of Ft. Pickens. They, too, were planning to monitor air quality. They claimed to be working for a private company "under contract" to someone else.

To whom were they under contract? They said they didn't know. But they were most interested in seeing our photos of the EPA's equipment.

One gets the notion, now and then, that BP's left hand doesn't know what the Government's right hand is doing, and vice versa.

EPA Backs Down on Dispersants

Late this afternoon, EPA director Lisa Jackson backed down on the agency's order, issued last week, that BP cease using its Corexit 9500 dispersant. Instead, she said, the agency would continue to research and monitor dispersant use.

On May 20, in EPA's own words, the agency ordered BP --

to identify a less toxic alternative – to be used both on the surface and under the water at the source of the oil leak – within 24 hours and to begin using the less toxic dispersant within 72 hours of submitting the alternative.

On the same day, however, BP replied that the large store of Corexit it had on hand:

was the only dispersant that was available immediately in sufficiently large quantities, to be useful at the time of the spill. Subsequent efforts have identified Sea Brat # 4 as a possible alternative that is equally effective at dispersing oil, but has fewer acute toxicity effects.

However, BP's letter added:

Sea Brat #4 contains a small amount of a a chemical that may degrade to a nonylphenol (NP). The class of NP chemicals have been identified by various government agencies as potential endocrine disrupters, and as chemicals that may persist in the environment for for a period of years. The manufacturer has not had the opportunity to evaluate this product for those potential effects, and BP has not had the opportunity to conduct independent tests to evaluate this issue either.

Several years ago, the EPA described nonylphenol in a previous advisory as --

an organic chemical produced in large quantities in the United States. It is toxic to aquatic life, causing reproductive effects in aquatic organisms. Nonylphenol is moderately soluble and resistant to natural degradation in water. It is used as a chemical intermediate and is often found in wastewater treatment plant effluent as a breakdown product from surfactants and detergents.

At this afternoon's brief news conference, EPA director Jackson said the agency will continue to evaluate the dispersants identified by BP for both effectiveness and toxicity. If an alternative to Corexit 9500 in sufficient quantities can be found, she implied the agency would proceed with orders for BP to make the switch.

The root problem, however, Jackson said as she began winding up the presser, is that "the science of dispersants has not in any way kept up with the science and technology" of deep sea drilling.

Last week, Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer in her own right and former NOAA director, told a congressional committee, "Until we know more about the dispersants, I'd follow up with BP and EPA and tell them to stop, stop."

Petroleum Prevarications

"BP is a foreign entity. For the last month, intentionally or through gross negligence, it has been attacking the shores of our nation..."

The trouble BP has with escalating its lies over the course of the last month about...

(1) how much oil is leaking; and
(2) how much of the leak they're capturing with a makeshift 4-inch tube...

... is that sooner or later one of those lies will collide with the other one. Take it in reverse order:

2. The Associated Press reports this morning, "BP says a mile-long tube it inserted into a leak on the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico is capturing 210,000 gallons of oil a day, but some is still escaping."
1. But, "the company has long estimated that 210,000 gallons is the total amount that's leaking."

Inasmuch as oil continues to pour out of the wellhead, a BP flack-catcher by the name of Mark Proegler had to admit Thursday,"the tube is not sucking up all the oil." But he refuses to say how much is not being captured.

Now, that's odd, to put it mildly. BP can publicly release estimates of the gallons leaking and the gallons supposedly being recovered, but not the gallons of oil that continue to pour out of the wellhead?

Where's the live feed? For that matter, why does the Obama administration, NOAA, EPA, the Interior Department, and the Coast Guard stand for this?

Reports ProPublica, quoting an ABC news report:

Asked if the White House could compel the company to release the video, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday the decision rests with BP, which controls the tapes. When Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California) pressed a top BP executive on the question during congressional hearings Tuesday, she was told the videos are under joint government and industry control at the incident command center in New Orleans, where they are teaming up to orchestrate the spill response.

Reports McClatchy News, a federal OSHA official in New Orleans "deferred to BP" by saying:

“It is not ours to publish,” said Dean Wingo, OSHA’s assistant regional administrator who oversees Louisiana. “We are working with (BP) and encouraging them to post the data so that it is publicly available.”

News flash: BP is a foreign entity. For the last month, intentionally or through gross negligence, it has been attacking the shores of our nation and endangering the health and welfare of millions of Gulf Coast citizens.

As Cynthia Kouril, a diarist at Firedog Lake more or less says, the federal government doesn't need anyone's permission to monitor the attack and gauge the severity of the threat to our republic posed by this foreign entity. Give 'em a Miranda warning and then make BP 'fess up.

Earth Day -- Postponed Again

This year, once again, Earth Day won't be celebrated with the public at the Gulf Ecology Division on Pensacola Beach. As we noted two years ago:

Skipping Earth Day at the GED on Pensacolsa Beach is worse than merely losing one field day trip for school children. Earth Day Week traditionally has been the one time every year when the Gulf Ecology Division opened its doors -- or at least, some of its doors -- to the general public. The GED not only uses the occasion to cleverly educate children about the important scientific work they do, but it goes a long way toward dispelling the faint whiff of mystery that many islanders think hangs over the facility.

It's no mystery why the EPA's annual Earth Day Open House celebrations on Pensacola Beach are no more. According to research ecologist Stephen Jordan, it's the triple whammy of tighter security restrictions after 9-11, the added burden on staff after Hurricane Ivan, and steadily diminished federal funding over the last seven years.

"We just don't have the resources anymore," Jordan told us today. "Everyone here has been so tied up doing more and more with less and less budget."

No one should be surprised to learn that under the Bush administration the EPA "has been plagued by significant budget cuts." Among them are "sizable budget reductions for... science and research."

We always thought Earth Day week at the GED was one of the most fascinating, enjoyable, and intellectually stimulating activities of the entire year on Pensacola Beach. Staff scientists and facility managers spent up to three weeks, Jordan says, preparing hands-on activities for children and multiple outdoor educational exhibits for a walking tour of marine life and ocean ecology. There was always plenty to do, and learn about, for visitors of every age, from one to 100.

On rare occasions, Jordan says, it's still possible for a select few to make special arrangements for a tour of the facility. As an example, he mentioned that a small group of local 5th graders who are taking an advanced science class will be visiting the facility late this week. But that's a special case. Those particular kids are well ahead of their peers in science education.

For the rest of us, all we can say is "Wait 'til next year." If Congress and a new occupant of the White House can get their act together quickly enough to bump up the EPA budget, maybe GED could coordinate a "welcome back" celebration with the reopening of the road to Ft. Pickens, currently scheduled for next Spring.