Tag: Gulf of Mexico

BP’s End of Year Report…or…”Look-ie…our profits soared!”

BP’s End of Year Report…or…”Look-ie…our profits soared!”

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April 20, 2010–Deepwater Horizon BP oil well sank and killed 11 workers. Thus began an environmental tragedy, the worst of which we have yet to see. That’s my thought. But to get BP’s thoughts on the matter, I visited their website and viewed their 2010 end-of-year report. I read those sections pertaining to the oil spill and below is information from it, along with my comments.

This image was taken in the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf of Mexico in January 2011. The shelf of oil was thick and extended all along the shoreline. Huge chunks of oil were washed up on the beach (some as large as three feet long by one foot across and 6 inches thick). There were less than 10 workers doing ANYthing on the beach, with most consisting of supervisors riding in four-wheel drive ATV’s. This is BP’s statement from page 3 of their year-end report. “BP and the US Coast Guard are working closely with state and local officials to clean Gulf Coast beaches before the 2011 spring and summer tourism seasons. BP and USCG remain ready to respond if any additional clean-up is required along the Gulf Coast shoreline.”

In the next paragraph I quote, “At the same time, sites, equipment, hired vessels and manpower have been demobilized as and when they are no longer required to support operations. During the fourth quarter, the number of operational sites has reduced from approximately 90 to 79 …. and the number of personnel from approximately 20,000 to approximately 6,200 at the end of the year.” They are indeed laying people off. Another big lay-off occurred in late January. But the oil is STILL THERE on the beach.

One contact I have lives on the Gulf of Mexico beach near Fort Morgan. He and his wife have photographs taken in June and July and very recent photographs. ALL of them contain oil. But…they do not live on a beach frequented by the spring break crowd. And the wildlife refuge is remote and thus is also not a destination for spring break crowds.

This beach is a spring-break destination. Those beaches that will host college students in the spring and later, kids and parents in the summer, are getting deep-cleaning by the large sifters that move huge amounts of sand, screen it through sifters and then return the sand to the shore. Gotta make those tourists think that all is well. Right?!?

BP’s report also cites scientist’s observations of tar mats in shallow, sub-tidal areas. “The federal on-scene commander has directed response teams to focus assessment and recovery efforts on the potentially recoverable near-shore oil.” I might add that if they want to see oil from the shallow, sub-tidal areas, all they need to do is visit a beach after a storm. Rough water stirs the bottom and the oil is dislodged and regurgitated back on the beach. A BP supervisor at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge told me this on my last visit. So why are they laying off all the workers in Alabama? This picture is also taken in January 2011 near Gulf Shores, Alabama. Those boots are a size 9 men’s…not small feel next to the oil chunk washed ashore.

If you are wondering about the claims process, here’s how they break it down in their report. There are three compensation alternatives. 1) A one-time quick pay option of $5,000 for an individual or $25,000 for business (deemed to be eligible). 2) A lump-sum final payment for all documented past, present and future damage. Recipients of both #1 and #2 must sign a release of liability releasing claims against BP and all other potentially liable parties (except claims for bodily injury and mental health injury, unless expressly settled, and claims under securities laws). 3) Quarterly interim payments for documented past damage not previously covered by emergency payments (which do not require execution of a release of liability). 378,103 new individual and business claims were filed in the last quarter of 2010. More than 290,000 claims were denied or judged not eligible for an emergency payment. The ‘trust’ fund paid a condo developer MILLIONS of dollars to complete a condo project while honest, hard-working crabbers, fishermen, and oyster-fishermen were paid nothing. And certainly, not all claims are valid. There are those who will abuse ANY system, but I’m just saying….. Do you have to hire an attorney to qualify for benefits from this ‘trust’ fund?

BP’s fourth quarter profits for 2010 were $4,614 MILLION, compared with $3,447 MILLION a year ago.

BP spent $17.7 billion in 2010 related to the Gulf Oil Spill. This includes money they put into the ‘trust’ fund.

BP holds a 65% working interest in the Macondo well (Deepwater Horizon), with the remaining 35% interest held by two joint venture partners. They are going after (seeking compensation from) their partners to help them cover the cost of their disaster.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 allows for claims against BP and for personal injury to fall into three categories: 1) claims by individuals and businesses for removal costs, damage to real or personal property, lost profits or impairment of earning capacity, loss of subsistence use of natural resources and for personal injury. 2) claims by state and local governments. 3) Claims by United States government. “In addition, BP faces civil litigation in which violations of OPA 90 along with other causes of actions, including personal injury claims and punitive damages, are asserted by individuals, businesses and government entities.”

“Natural Resources Damages claims are payable out of the $20-billion trust fund. These damages include, amongst other things, the reasonable costs of assessing the injury to natural resources.” The studies that BP is ‘funding’ are being paid out of the $20-billion trust fund.

Under the ‘fines and penalties’ section, the report states that the fines are based on the number of barrels of oil released. “This calculation assumes a volume of oil spilled determined using an estimate of the flow rate based on the range of figures published and BP’s own analysis of those ranges, and is based upon BP’s belief that it was not grossly negligent and did not engage in willful misconduct.” So now we understand why BP grossly and intentionally underestimated the amount of oil flowing out from the busted well from the very beginning. Should not that, in and of itself, be a criminal act?

The claims and fines related to OPA 90 will be paid through the $20-billion trust fund. As well, any other obligations related to Natural Resource Damage claims and claims asserted in civil litigation. BP’s report reads, “The establishment of this trust fund does not represent a cap or floor on BP’s liabilities and BP does not admit to a liability of this amount.” I felt my brain twisted like a pretzel after reading that statement. We don’t admit to owing this money nor will we put a cap or floor on this thing….this thing we do not claim to owe.

The end of the year report for BP? They had a greater profit than the year before, they are laying off beach cleaning workers while oil is still thick in places, the studies they are funding and the scientists they ‘bought’ are being paid for from the $20-billion trust fund. TRUST fund….there must be better words for this account…blood money, perhaps?

The Shadows Gather

The Shadows Gather

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Two weeks ago this is how the beach at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge looked…COVERED with a thick shelf of oil. Yesterday the NY Times ran an article with this headline: REPORT FORESEES QUICK GULF OF MEXICO RECOVERY. Does anyone notice a discrepancy in the photograph I took a couple weeks ago and the image Mr. Feinburg is painting of the Gulf Coast?

As I sat finishing my breakfast, I read the article posted on Facebook and about jumped off my chair with anger. The report says the Gulf should recover by the end of 2012. Perhaps they are counting on the Mayan calendar’s expiration and the potential end of the world as we know it to make this prediction. Seriously! I spoke with a wildlife biologist last Saturday and she said it takes a minimum of 3 to 5 years for wildlife populations to show the true picture after an event such as this. Maybe Mr. Feinburg–I mean BP–has resorted to wishful thinking as their modus operandi.

Wes Tunnell, a marine biologist at Texas A & M, wrote the report that said some areas will have fewer fish, shrimp and crab but overall regional 2011 catches for blue crabs, shrimp, oysters and fin fishes should be in line with catches before the spill. By the way, he was paid by BP to write the document. And…he doesn’t offer any estimates on how much hydrocarbon residue is expected to be found in said seafood species. Whatever happened to non-biased scientific data collection? Oh, the oil companies run the country…how silly of me to forget.

From the beginning of the spill I have thought the Coast Guard to be a puppet of BP…of oil corporations. From watching Rear Admiral Mary Landree mindlessly nod her head in press briefings by Doug Suttles, the BP spokesperson during the spill, to this latest bogus report by scientists funded by BP (isn’t that in itself a conflict of interest?)…the Coast Guard agrees with anything BP says. Again…I cry FOUL! and….WAKE UP AMERICA!

A voice of sanity is included in the Times article. Dr. James Cowan, a biological oceanographer at LSU said his group has found “troubling signs of apparent oil damage” to shrimp and fish. “In my mind, the long-term, indirect effects are going to be the most insidious and also the most difficult to ascertain,” he said.

This past summer I witnessed local government officials laughing at ‘dumb tourists’ swimming (yes….I have video footage) in crude oil. I heard one mayor say ‘we have to get the clean-up workers off the beach during the day…it is scaring the tourists’ (yep…got THAT on video as well). So should we be surprised at the continued denial of the damage that was done and how it continues to affect the Gulf Coast? Absolultely NOT! No surprise here. So how can an article like this help us? It can give us a renewed sense of purpose to ensure the light of truth be presented through reporting true stories, showing images and video, and through voices that are LIVING IT. Let the TRUTH dispel the shadows before they completely cover-up the real story of what is happening along the Gulf Coast.

This shows a block of hardened crude oil washed ashore mid-January 2011. Who said the oil is gone? It’s over? Hardly any workers were to be seen with hundreds of tons of crude oil imbedded in the beach in the wildlife refuge. BP has not even cleaned up the mess yet they are claiming within two years everything will be great, back to normal? This is the height of insanity.

Gulf Coast–January 2011 Summary

Gulf Coast–January 2011 Summary

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My first day out, January 10th, yielded major oil at the surf zone. But this time in the form of a hardened shelf of crude. Recent winter storm waves had exposed the shelf and deposited oil from the bottom of the Gulf, according to a supervisor on one of the clean-up crews, on the beach. It was as bad as I’ve seen the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge since I begin documenting this disaster in May 2010. The only difference was it was 60 degrees cooler than the July and August temperatures that made it a living hell on the beaches with horrible smells; thick, gooey, melted petroleum coated sand and mats of oil floated in the Gulf then. Now at least it is hardened. It seems reasonable that NOW would be the time to remove the oil from the beach…right? But the clean-up crews are understaffed and sometimes not even present.

Two days later and sand, from a hefty north wind, had nearly covered the oil shelf. People might be tempted, in looking at this sight, to say, “It’s not so bad.” They just need to see what lies just beneath the surface to fully comprehend the amount of oil still present on the beach at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.

Ft Morgan beach had some small tar balls but nothing else evident. But understand this: It depends on the day you visit, the way the wind is blowing, and the strength of the waves to see the truth about the amount of oil on the beach. My two visits to the national wildlife refuge clearly proved that.

The day I visited Ft. Morgan the wind was out of the north at 35mph and the temperature was 41 degrees coming across Mobile Bay. Thank goodness the North Carolina mountain winters have taught me how to stay warm in such conditions. There was a fair amount of shore birds on the Gulf beach including sanderlings, brown pelicans, willets, ruddy turnstones, and gulls. It was heartening to see a nice-size bird flock at Ft. Morgan, especially since the oil-laden beaches at the wildlife refuge, 10 miles east, were nearly vacant of birdlife.

Gulf State Park Pier beaches had been, or were in the process of being, deep-cleaned. There was some light oiling washing up on the beach but not many noticeable tar balls. There were birds present, although not in the typical winters numbers I would expect.

The foot ‘issues’ I have been documenting were evident in one gull in the flock there at Gulf State Park.

On this trip I was able to spend one day enjoying the coastal treasures I grew up with. Romar beach had been deep-cleaned and looked pretty good. Very few birds were present but the water appeared quite nice.

Alabama Point and the Gulf Islands National Seashore provided me with delightful hours that nurtured my weary spirit. I thought, as I wandered along the beaches, how strange it was that an ecosystem still struggling to recover and heal could provide me with such healing. It was nice to spend time connecting with the raw, intense beauty of the Gulf Coast.

My visit was a study in contrasts. One beach was heavily covered in oil while another might look okay. There was bird life on some beaches while it was absent on others. It’s difficult to form much of an opinion from four days of beach visits but it was very telling to see so much oil exposed one day and almost completely covered two days later. The summary for my January visit is this: There is much that remains hidden about the oil spill and recovery…and I mean that on many levels.

A Day of Treasures

A Day of Treasures

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I was walking in a 35 mph wind while the thermometer hovered around 40 degrees on a gray sky morning. I felt the incredible life force around me, within me and within every creature, in the Gulf waters–even in the air. Making the commitment to document the oil spill and recovery has had one very positive effect on me: I have been outside more this year than I have in decades. Not every day has been pleasant and many have been physically and emotionally exhausting, but I have connected with nature in a very deep and personal way and as usual, nature has gifted me endlessly.

Today there were many gifts and the first one was the element of wind. The north wind brought moisture-laden air across Mobile Bay and buffeted me with full force as I walked along the bay beach at Ft Morgan. It was challenging to walk against it but when I turned around, it pushed me along…almost lifting me out of my boots until I felt air-borne between steps.

There was minimal surface oil on the beach apparent on the bay side of Ft Morgan but I realized that each day’s wind can deposit sand to cover oil or use its force to uncover what lies hidden. After yesterday’s discovery of large amounts of hardened oil just ten miles east of here, I felt a slight reprieve from the sadness of finding more oil on these sensitive land areas.

After walking a couple of miles along the Ft Morgan peninsula, I needed to thaw out so I drove back to civilization. The car ride thawed my chill so by the time I arrived at Romar Beach in Orange Beach, Alabama, I was eager to get back outside. The deep cleaning and grooming had removed all traces of oil on this beach…even the tiny tar balls were gone. The beach was once-again snow-white and birds had returned to enjoy its beauty.

Alabama Point had some tar balls but it had also been cleaned and the oil that was washed up was minimal or well-hidden. I noticed many sanderlings and gulls and so this beach reminded me of the typical winter beach experiences of years past where shores birds are numerous and the north wind flattens the Gulf into a beautiful, rolling body of water that appears to sigh as its golden waves roll ashore.

Finally, I visited Gulf Islands National Seashore at Johnson Beach in Florida. Many folks were working on the beaches, still cleaning up tar balls but the water there was clear and beautiful. The white sand reminded me of snow and I soaked up the peace found there among the dunes. I saw a flock of about 100 canvasback ducks on the sound side of the peninsula which a delightful treat.

As I walked along the water’s edge I expressed gratitude for the coastal recovery that is taking place. I grieved about areas like the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge that continue to be heavily oiled. But today, I was given many gifts from nature and I gratefully accepted them with a deep realization of the treasures we have along our Gulf Coast. I can think of no more satisfying work than to help protect such sacred places.

Caught in an Unholy War

Caught in an Unholy War

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As I was walking along the shore at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, I saw a layer of oil exposed from the incoming tide. I was photographing it when one of the four-wheelers stopped and the guy started calling out to me. Because of the wind I couldn’t hear him so I walked over to hear what he was saying.

He told me he was a supervisor from Crowder, the current BP contractor corporation providing clean-up on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Just today, he said, he found that particular layer of oil at the water’s edge. He had marked it with flags and had shown his crew, who he related wanted to immediately scoop it off the beach. As he was telling me about everything he and the contractors were doing to make the beach better, he stopped talking for a moment, looked down the beach and said, “Those wildlife officers are watching us.” “So what?” I replied. He went on to tell me that the wildlife officers employed by the US Fish and Wildlife agency did not particularly like the contractors. “Oh,” I pondered out loud.

As the contractor was driving off, I looked up and saw the most amazing clouds over the dunes. Like a magnet, they drew me in. While avoiding sea oats, I walked to the base of the dune and took a few photographs. I turned and walked back toward shore and the wildlife officers were wheeling toward me. In a friendly wave, I greeted them.

I had missed the signs professing the area was closed. Maybe it was the rapture of beautiful clouds or my foggy brain still in recovery from food poisoning Sunday night, regardless I was approached by both armed officers who asked if I had seen the signs. The signs are spaced at 100++ foot intervals along the dune line and I had wandered between two signs, no more than 20 feet into the ‘closed’ area.

Okay, of all the people who visit the refuge I’m the last person who would do anything to harm the environment or wildlife there. I’ve walked through 100 degree temperatures for miles through the center of the refuge to get images and video of the heavy machines hauling the beach away during the invasion of the oil. I’ve written passionately about wildlife and wild places and included my work from the oil spill in my recently published book, Place of Spirit. Not intending to do any harm but rather capture the beauty of this place was no excuse. I had entered the NO NO zone. But seriously. Not a warning or verbal reprimand? I wasn’t on the dune, was careful about where I stepped and had barely entered closed area.

When I explained all of this to the officers they said they had a lot of trouble with the contractors and so had to be very strict about anyone crossing the (invisible) line. Oh….so I was being made an example of for the contractors. And it worked. As the officer was writing me a ticket, a tractor driver came up and the officer stepped out of the way…INTO THE FORBIDDEN ZONE. I made a comment about being careful not to step into the closed area, with humor, and he realized he also was in the no trespassing area and so stepped back out of it while continuing to write the ticket…the $75 ticket.

As I walked back to my car I knew that in ‘normal’ times I would have received a verbal warning, not a ticket. I have no issue paying the fine. Each of those 20 feet cost me $3.75, a small price to pay for realizing just how stressed relations are between people trying to protect the environment and those who work for people who nearly annihilated the environment on the Gulf Coast. It seems that wildlife officers have it ‘in’ for contractors, some of whom are careless. And people like me, who adore nature and work diligently to document and share the seriousness of this on-going oil spill event (paying our own expenses) get caught in the middle of some unholy war between the good guys and those who work for the bad guys.

The contract workers are not the enemy Mr. Wildlife Officers (please tell your bosses). Neither are nature-lovers enraptured by beautiful clouds.