New oil spill spotted in Gulf near BP Macondo well

While there have been no new reports of damaged oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, a massive oil slick has been spotted.

The US Coast Guard has confirmed that there appears to be a massive oil sheen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 20 miles north of the site of the 2010 BP oil spill.

The half-mile wide, hundred mile long oil slick was reported by local residents, who spotted it on Saturday, according to the Times-Picayune.

During the early stages of the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill, there were reports of three leaks at the Macondo well site. One was plugged within a week. The second held the international spotlight, until it was finally capped five months later, after spewing 4.9 million barrels of oil and a million gallons of chemical dispersant into the Gulf.

The third leak was largely ignored by the media.  However, oil industry expert, Matt Simmons claimed in an MSBNC news interview, that the third leak, located about 5 miles from the Macondo well, was the “elephant behind the mouse.”

Simmons died unexpectedly on August 8^th, 2010.  The circumstances surrounding his death suggest to some people that he may have been assassinated for being a whistle blower during the BP oil spill.

Dead bird outbreak worsens across Southeast US

The latest bird deaths in the wildlife mystery appeared on the roadside of Interstate 65, near Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday. The 300 black-colored grackles strewn over a white blanket of white snow was an eerie scene for motorists driving past the carcasses.

Since the beginning of 2011, thousands of dead birds and millions of dead fish have been reported worldwide. In Faenza, Italy, more than 700 doves were found dead with blue stains on their beaks. Authorities say it was a sign of suffocation. Sweden also reported dead birds last week. In the United States, strange bird deaths have been reported in Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and California. Dead fish and crabs have been reported by the millions in Maryland, Illinois, Arkansas, New Zealand, Brazil.

A recent report in the Huffington Post claims scientists have discovered the cause of death for the Doves in Italy. "We are fairly confident the birds died as a result of massive indigestion brought on by over-eating," Rodolfo Ridolfi, a director at the regional zoological institute, told The Daily Mail.” Additional data suggest that dead birds across the United States are the cause of blunt trauma and internal bleeding.

What all the reports lack is what prompted the bird deaths. Why did the birds in Italy suddenly eat themselves to death? In the US, the internal bleeding claimed to be the cause of death of the birds in Beebe, Arkansas could have been caused by impact, after falling from the sky. But what cause the birds to fall in the first place?

Birds and fish are at the top of the food chain, so whatever affects them also soon affects humans. There is some speculation that pollution from chemicals and oil from the BP Gulf oil spill has infiltrated the environment on a global scale. NOAA had suggested this possibility last year, during the height of the crisis.

However, much of the Gulf oil spill data has been hidden through contracts between BP and scientists, so the connection may be difficult to document. Concealing oil spill damage data was the purpose of the BP contracts, to reduce the company’s monetary damage penalties.

There are any number of reasons for the sudden death of birds and fish worldwide. Climate change, pollution, and theories of the Apocalypse are among them.

One thing is certain; there is a reason for the sudden death of wildlife across the globe, we just have no solid evidence to support any of them right now. Until we do, the speculation, and perhaps the birds deaths, will go on.

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BP oil spill report: Expect more oil spill disasters with deregulation

President Obama’s oil spill commission has concluded that BP and Halliburton were both guilty of contributing to the cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster which resulted in the worst oil spill in US history.

A 48 page final report released Wednesday found that BP failed to test the cement plug Halliburton used to seal the exploratory Macondo well.  The flawed cement mix failed, caused the rig to explode on April 20, 2010, and kill eleven crew members, dump nearly 5 million barrels of oil, and 2 million gallons of chemical dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico.

The commission concluded that short-cuts are an industry-wide practice that will result in continuing oil spill disasters, unless new, stiffer regulations are put in place.

The problem with preventing further oil spill disasters lies in the plans of the new republican congress.

Incoming chairman of the government Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrel Issa of California, has stated that he plans to roll back and remove as many government regulations as he can, including those that regulate the oil industry.

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Could thousands of bird deaths in Arkansas and Louisiana be related to the BP oil spill?

Birds are the single most populous species on earth. There are literally billions of them inhabiting every inch of our world. Because of this, scientists call them an indicator species.

“Birds are excellent indicators because we know so much about their biology and life histories. Birds are found almost everywhere in the world and in almost every habitat. They eat a variety of foods and have a broad range of niche requirements,” according to Dr. Roger Lederer, who is a retired professor of Biological Sciences at CSU, and has been studying birds for more than 40 years.

Since birds are fairly high up on the food chain, changes in the environment are rapidly reflected in birds.

The recent sudden death of 5,000 blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas, and more than 500 dead birds of the same species a few days later in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, plus additional bird deaths in Gilbertsville, Kentucky, raise questions about what the areas have in common and why all the birds died within days of each other.

Beebe, Arkansas and Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana are just 381 miles apart; a virtual stone’s throw for most birds. A map of the Southeastern United States shows that you can draw almost a straight line between the two towns. If you add the Kentucky location, another 781 miles away, the line only takes only a slight turn to the Northeast.

Geographically, the areas have variations topography and temperature, but all are considered temperate with seasonal changes, and ample variations in habitat for bird life to thrive. What they also have is common is weather influence from the Gulf of Mexico. Many storms that originate in the Gulf make their way inland, as far north as New York on occasion.

While some may consider it an unfounded speculation, one must consider the long term effects of the massive about of chemicals used in the Gulf oil spill as a possible cause for the bird deaths. Enough time has elapsed since the April 20, 2010 disaster to allow the chemicals to work their way through the environment.

During the height of the oil spill disaster, nearly 2 million gallons of Corexit was poured into the Gulf of Mexico. Corexit goes through a molecular change when it comes into contact with warm water; it changes from a liquid to a gas and evaporates into clouds. Corexit is toxic at only 2.61 PPM.

“Corexit is one of the most environmentally enduring, toxic chemical dispersants ever created to battle an oil spill.” Furthermore, “A report prepared for President Medvedev by Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources  warned that the BP oil spill would be the worst environmental catastrophe in all of human history, threatening the entire eastern half of the North American continent.”

The Russian study warned of years of toxic oil rain, resulting in profound changes in the ecosystem.

Could nine months of toxic oil rain have somehow concentrated in these two areas, causing the death of the birds, and more than 100,000 fish in the same area at the same time? Could the birds have ingested contaminated prey?

Chemically transformed Corexit may have nothing to do with the death of 5,500 birds, 381 miles apart, within 24 hour of each other. It may have nothing to do with the death of 100,000 fish in the Arkansas River. But then again, it might. The implications of a molecular invasion of Corexit in the Southeastern United States on a microbiological level are unimaginable, both ecologically and financially.

Since no one has ever used such a massive amount of toxic chemical dispersant on an oil spill before, there is no data to use as a guide for long term environmental damage.

The question is, if there were scientific evidence to support widespread damage from the BP oil spill, and that it was the cause of thousands of fish and birds suddenly dropping dead, would anyone admit it?

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Scientists find evidence of serious damage from BP oil spill

The oil BP tried to hide with nearly 2 million gallons of chemical dispersant has been discovered in thick layers on the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico. The area of contamination covers several thousand square miles and scientists from the University of South Florida say the environmental damage is “significant.” All the marine life in the settled oil was dead, according to the scientists who saw the damage from research vessels.

The disruption to the food chain could be significant. Scientists may not know the full extent of the damage for months, if not years. Fish and other marine life that depended on the worms and other microorganisms to survive may also die if they are unable to find other food sources.

Biomarkers are tests that confirm the origin of spilled oil through a chemical signature. University of South Florida oceanographer David Hollander said in an interview that “he and colleagues have just completed tests showing that the chemical profile of oil they found in Gulf sediment matches that from the blown-out BP well,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Hollander said, “The chemical signatures are identical.”

Throughout the Deepwater Horizon disaster, numerous scientists and whistle blowers warned of the dangers of BP’s excessive use of dispersant on the massive oil spill. They claimed that sinking the oil rather than removing it from the surface was little more than a ploy by BP to hide the size of the spill, which in turn, would lower the amount of money the company would have to pay for environmental damage.

The Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010 and the subsequent oil spill is reported to have poured 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The flame-engulfed rig sank into five thousand feet of water two days later.

Eleven men died in the explosion the night of the disaster. On June 23^rd, the US Coast Guard confirmed the death of two members of the cleanup crew who had been overcome by exposure to BP’s chemical dispersant. BP and the EPA claimed that the dispersant Corexit, was ‘as harmless as dish soap.’

Sunken oil from BP spill forms deadly blankets in Gulf waters

Fears of scientists over the BP oil spill are becoming evidenced in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Contamination from sunken oil is covering patches of the sea floor like black toxic blankets, smothering the ecosystem and threatening its delicate balance.

Sediment around the site of the BP blowout is showing high levels of toxins, according to data sited in the Wall Street Journal. “There is no practical way to clean up the spilled oil that has settled deep in the Gulf, officials said.”

During the height of the disaster, BP’s unprecedented use of nearly 2 million gallons of chemical dispersant came under fire from the EPA and scientific community, and in early May, just two weeks after the April 20, 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon that took eleven lives and marked the beginning of the disaster, the EPA ordered BP to stop using the dispersant for fear of long term environmental damage and risks to human health.

In June, under suspicion of a media blackout on the gushing Macondo well, the EPA did a sudden reversal on the dangers of the dispersant, issuing a report that claimed BP’s chemical was as harmless as ‘dish soap.”

The EPA turnaround, say whistleblowers, came in the form of pressure from the Obama Administration and BP officials concerned about the falling stock price of the oil giant.

By June 11th, 71 oil spill cleanup workers had been hospitalized in Louisiana, due to exposure to vapors from the toxic dispersant. On June 23^rd, the US Coast Guard confirmed the death of two members of the cleanup crew.