Pipeline that leaked wasn't equipped with auto shut-off

Workers prepare an oil containment boom at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, Calif., Thursday, May 21, 2015. More than 7,700 gallons of oil has been raked, skimmed and vacuumed from a spill that stretched across about 9 miles of California coast, just a fraction of the sticky, stinking goo that escaped from a broken pipeline, officials said.
AP

BRIAN MELLEY
The Associated Press

Published: Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 9:00 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 9:49 p.m.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The pipeline that leaked thousands of gallons of oil on the California coast was the only pipe of its kind in the county not required to have an automatic shut-off valve because of a court fight nearly three decades ago, a county official said.

The original owner of the pipeline skirted the Santa Barbara County requirement by successfully arguing in court in the late 1980s that it should be subject to federal oversight because the pipeline is part of an interstate network, said Kevin Drude, deputy director of the county's Energy and Minerals Division. Auto shut-off valves are not required by federal regulators.

"It's the only major pipeline that doesn't have auto shut-off," Drude said. "For us, it's routine."

Federal regulators are investigating the cause of Tuesday's leak that spilled up to 105,000 gallons of crude oil from an underground pipe into a culvert and as much as 21,000 gallons into the ocean at Refugio State Beach. The spill killed untold numbers of fish, at least five pelicans and a sea lion. It also mired other wildlife, including an elephant seal, in the muck.

Plains All American Pipeline was still draining the pipe and trying to locate the leak Saturday. Federal regulators ordered the company to remove the damaged section and send it to a lab for tests on the metal, along with a series of other steps before it could resume pumping oil through the pipe to inland refineries.

Plains said the pipeline had one valve to shut it down if oil flowed in the opposite direction and three valves controlled by operators in its Midland, Texas, control room.

Plains defended its people approach to manually shutting down the system, saying it's the standard across the country for liquid pipelines.

"It is much safer for operators who understand the operations of the pipeline to shut it down following a planned sequence of steps than for computer to automatically close a valve on oil that is traveling in confined space at high pressure," Patrick Hodgins, the company's senior director of safety, said Saturday. "This is all standard operating procedures within our industry."

While it's not known if an auto shut-off valve would have detected the leak and reduced the size of the spill, environmentalists have criticized the lack of such a device, saying it could have averted or minimized the disaster.

"Everyone is pretty mystified why the pipeline didn't automatically shut down when the leak occurred," said Linda Krop, chief counsel of the Environmental Defense Center.

Santa Barbara County regulations sometimes exceed state and federal standards, requiring additional environmental analysis or imposing conditions to further protect health and the environment, Drude said. One additional requirement is a valve that can detect changes consistent with a leak and automatically shut down.

The county successfully fought another operator that didn't want to install automatic shutdown valves on a pipeline from an offshore drilling platform, Drude said.

However, when there was a leak on that line in 1997, an operator overrode the automatic shutdown, and it continued spewing crude into the Pacific Ocean a couple miles from shore. The 10,000 gallon spill fouled 21 miles of shoreline and killed more than 150 birds.

Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts Inc., which investigates pipeline incidents, said such valves aren't always effective, though newer, more sophisticated "smart" models provide more accurate signals that can trigger shutdowns.

A Plains employee discovered the leak early Tuesday afternoon, about three hours after mechanical issues with the pipeline, according to the company. The pipe was restarted for about 20 minutes before a pump failed and then it was shut down because of changes in pressure.

The company said it was looking into whether those earlier problems led to the leak.

A surge in pressure from starting up a system could cause a leak or exacerbate one, but it's too soon to tell, Kuprewicz said.

"In the past, surge pressures have caused pipes to rupture. But there were other failures, too," he said, speaking in general and not about the Plains incident. "If that were the case, that would become fairly evident ... pretty quickly."

Plains All American subsidiaries have reported at least 223 accidents along their lines and spilled a combined 864,300 gallons of hazardous liquids since 2006, according to federal records. The company has been subject to 25 enforcement actions by federal regulators and tallied damages topping $32 million.

The company has defended its record, saying accidental releases have decreased as its pipelines have increased to 17,800 miles.

Finding California oil spill's cause could take months

Published: Friday, May 22, 2015 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, May 22, 2015 at 3:05 a.m.

GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — The operator of a broken oil pipeline that fouled a California shoreline says it could be weeks or even months before investigators are able to determine what caused the break and subsequent spill.
Crews have yet to excavate the broken piece of pipeline, which under the law must be done in the presence of federal regulators and a third party, officials with Plains All American Pipeline LP said at a Thursday night news conference at the Santa Barbara County beach where the spill occurred two days earlier.
"We have not even uncovered the pipe yet," said Patrick Hodgins, senior director of safety for Plains All American.
The company would not yet say whether two malfunctions that occurred shortly before the spill was discovered were part of the cause.
"We were having some pump problems on the pipeline," said Rick McMichael, another Plains All American Representative. "Whether it led to the leak or not is part of our investigation."
The 24-inch pipe, built in 1987, had no previous problems and was thoroughly inspected in 2012, according to its operator, Plains All American Pipeline. The pipe underwent similar tests about two weeks ago, though the results had not been analyzed yet.
The spill involved an estimated 105,000 gallons of crude; about 21,000 is believed to have made it to the sea and split into slicks that stretched 9 miles along coast. A 23-mile by 7-mile area was closed to fishing.
As of Thursday, more than 9,000 gallons had been raked, skimmed and vacuumed up, officials said.
The thick, powerful-smelling crude coated rocks and sand, but only six oil-coated pelicans and one juvenile sea lion had been rescued.
An abundance of volunteers had made themselves available to help sop up oil and in particular to help clean off animals, but they were being turned away and encouraged not to act on their own.
"We just don't have enough positions," U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams said.
The latest spill is just a drop in the bucket compared with a catastrophic blowout on the same stretch of coast in 1969, when a Union Oil platform blew out and spewed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude along 30 miles of coast. Some 9,000 birds died, new regulations were passed and a new era of environmental activism began in the U.S.
Nevertheless, the new spill is being held up as another reason to oppose such things as fracking, the Keystone XL pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas, the moving of crude by train, and drilling in far-flung places.
"What we see from this event is that the industry still poses enormous risks to an area we cannot afford to lose," said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Plains All American and its subsidiaries operate more than 6,000 miles of hazardous liquid pipelines in at least 20 states, according to company reports. Those companies handle more than 4 million barrels of crude and other liquid fuels daily.
Since 2006, the companies have reported 199 accidents and been subject to 22 enforcement actions by federal regulators. The accidents resulted in a combined 725,500 gallons of hazardous liquids spilled and damage topping $25 million.
Corrosion was determined to be the cause in more than 80 of those accidents. Failures in materials, welds and other equipment were cited more than 70 times.
Enforcement cases against the companies resulted in the collection of $154,000 in penalties, according to a federal database.
Hodgins, of Plains All American, said the company has spent more than $1.3 billion since 2007 on maintenance, repair and enhancement of its equipment.
He also defended the company's safety record, saying accidental releases have decreased as the number of miles of pipelines has increased.
___
Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Alicia Chang contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

Byron Encalade, Voices From The Gulf

Byron Encalade, Voices From The Gulf.

Drew Landry (left Byron Encalade (right) ((Click to enlarge))

The second in a series of interviews with South Louisiana Fishermen, Drew Landry took me to Byron Encalade, in East Pointe A-LA Hache, LA, a small fishing village in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.  He engages in harvesting seafood, oysters and shrimp; also in transporting seafood along the gulf coast states.  He is currently serving as Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana Constable 3^rd Ward, American Legion Post 430 Judge Advocate, Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries Seed Ground Permit Appeals Board, President of Louisiana Oystermen Association, President of South Plaquemines United Fisheries Cooperative and most proudly a lifetime member of the Wolfhound Pack 27^th Infantry Regiment Historical Society, Inc.

Louisiana barrier island oyster bed
10/30/10

Byron has been an oysterman all of his life and tells it like it is for his friends and family 5 years after the BP oil disaster.

Acy Cooper, Voices From The Gulf

"Voices From The Gulf"
There is too much going on in the Gulf region today to address it with only one post and account from the people's voices. This is the first installment of a year long expose'.  I will be releasing a series of video interviews from the region over the next year. During the entire 5th I will try my best to expose first hand accounts of as many impacts to the fisheries and more importantly, the people.

We have all heard from the BP ads and lawyers that all is well and the Gulf is recovering. We have heard the stories of the incredible amounts of money BP has supposedly paid to impacted families. Please turn off the BP tv commercials that BP paid for and listen instead to the "Voices From The Gulf"

Acy Cooper, Vice President, Louisiana Shrimp Association

Acy Cooper isn't a scientist, lawyer, or corporate giant CEO. He is the vice president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. A fisherman working in the Gulf of Mexico today while BP claims the Gulf is healing well and everyone is being compensated. Acy has the eyes and ears of the fishing community in his area. Take time to listen to his account of the shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico, 5 years after the BP disaster.

(Click photos to enlarge)

His account of what the fishing communities are facing is startlingly different from the B P ads and what our government wants interior America to believe. (BP = Bought Paid for)
People all over the world who are confronting the deep sea drilling monster should share these stories widely. 5 years after the Deepwater Horizon, BP disaster we are just now seeing the long-term impacts. It only takes one "spill", "incident", one disaster to completely change the way of life for people who are directly impacted.

Letter to editor "ADEM fails to meet community’s needs"

ADEM fails to meet community’s needs

Dear Editor:
The Tuscaloosa News’ Lydia Seabol Avant recently did a fine job in the article “EPA Investigates Landfill,” (The Tuscaloosa News, Aug. 14, Page 1A) which described the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s investigation of the discriminatory impact on Uniontown’s citizens caused by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management’s decision to permit Arrowhead Landfill to receive waste from 33 states.

I am one of those who say the landfill was expanded without proper protections for public health and the environment. Prior to its expansion, the landfill received over
4 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash that came from the 2008 Kingston, Tenn., coal ash spill.
As one of those complainants, I can tell you the impacts and experiences are as horrifying as described in the article. Frustrated residents living near this area suffer from a wide range of medical problems linked to coal ash dust and coal ash wastewater run-off. Concerned families no longer grow vegetable gardens and the smells around the landfill can make one’s stomach turn. Their quality of life has declined as have property values.
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management bears significant responsibility for allowing this to happen.
Are ADEM officials violating our civil rights when they fail to properly review and then strengthen permits that result in little or no protection? Are they discriminating against our poor and minority communities when they fail to adequately enforce environmental laws?
Hopefully, the EPA will find out the answer to these questions.
Adam Johnston
Alliance Coordinator, Alabama Rivers Alliance
Birmingham

 

BREAKING NEWS! BP found "Grossly Negligent"

Judge: BP Has Been Found Grossly Negligent

Posted: Sep 04, 2014 9:53 AM CDT Updated: Sep 04, 2014 10:35 AM CDT

By WKRG Staff

• BP court ruling

BATON ROUGE, La. - A federal judge has ruled that BP's reckless conduct resulted in the nation's worst offshore oil spill, leaving the company open to billions of dollars in penalties.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's ruling Thursday could nearly quadruple the amount of civil penalties for polluting the Gulf of Mexico with oil from BP's Macondo well in 2010.

Barbier presided over a trial in 2013 to apportion blame for the spill that spewed oil from April 20 to mid-July 2010. Eleven men died when the well blew wild; BP already has agreed to billions of dollars in criminal fines.

Barbier says BP bears 67 percent of the blame for the spill. He says drilling rig owner Transocean Ltd. takes 30 percent of the blame, and cement contractor Halliburton Energy Service takes 3 percent.

It's about damn time. The Gulf residents found BP "Grossly Negligent" May 20, 2010.
My first view...
 

1,000-pound tar mat is being cleaned up on Fort Pickens beach.

Nearly four years to the day when BP oil began soiling our beaches, a 1,000-pound tar mat is being cleaned up on Fort Pickens beach. (Pensacola News Journal)

(Photo: Special to the Pensacola News Journal )

1098 CONNECTTWEET 2 LINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE

A U.S. Coast Guard pollution investigation team is leading another day of cleanup of a tar mat discovered Friday on the beach at Fort Pickens.
So far, the team has removed about 960 pounds of the mat, which is about 8 to 10 feet off the shoreline in the Gulf of Mexico, just east of Langdon Beach, Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Murphy said
Mats are made of weathered oil, sand, water and shells.
Monday marks the fourth anniversary of when the oil from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster finally arrived on waves slicking our beaches. Tar balls and a frothy brownish-orange petroleum product called mousse, however, arrived earlier that month.
The mat was discovered on Friday by a Florida Department of Environmental Protection monitor who surveys area beaches routinely looking for lingering BP oil.
"The weather plays such a big factor in this," said Murphy. "Friday we got the cleanup crew out there and could see it (tar mat) visibly and attacked it. Then the thunderstorms came in, and they had to stop."
By the time the crew returned Saturday, the mat was reburied under 6 inches of sand, and it took the crew a while to relocate it using GPS coordinates taken Friday, she said.
With the mat located in the surf zone, it's harder to clean up.
"It's always a battle with Mother Nature," Murphy said.
The team returned today and plans to return Monday and for as many days as it takes to excavate the entire mat with shovels, although Murphy said it appears by the smaller amount excavated today they may be getting close to collecting all of it.
But the team will survey about 100 yards east and west of the mat to make sure none is still buried in the sand.
This mat is located about half a mile east of where a mat containing 1,400 pounds of weathered oil was cleaned up in March.
Cleanup is being conducted by a joint effort between BP, the Coast Guard, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and National Park Service.
It will take about a week for test results to confirm whether the oil is from the Macondo well that exploded April 20, 2004.
More than 200 million gallons of crude oil spewed into Gulf in 2010 for a total of 87 days before the Macondo well head could capped, making it the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
Ironically, the discovery of the near-shore mat comes at a time when the National Park Service has stepped up efforts to search out suspected tar mats farther offshore.
Mats are believed to be submerged in the Gulf of Mexico waters off the seashore's Fort Pickens and Johnson beach areas.
Since April, a specialized team of underwater archaeologists has been scanning the waters looking for areas that might have trapped oil when it began washing up on our beaches four years ago on Monday.
Friday's discovery is not related to the dive team's hunt for oil, although the Coast Guard is testing several samples the team discovered to see if it is oil and, if so, whether it's from the ­Macondo well, she said.
Murphy urges the public to report any tar mat, tar ball or anything they suspected BP oil to the National Response Center hotline.
Report tar balls
Report tar ball, tar mats or anything that looks like oil pollution to the National Response Center hotline 800-424-8802.

TAR SANDS OIL MOBILE Exposes pipeline fiasco

TAR SANDS OIL MOBILE

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

With all the talk about tar sands oil coming to Mobile Alabama and the lack of current information about the pipeline leading from Pascagoula Miss to the Downtown Mobile terminals to be built there I felt the need to expose it for what it is.
The pipeline crosses the Big Creek Lake basin where Mobile gets it's drinking water. In fact this oil pipeline crosses within less than 1/2 mile from the intake pump for the drinking water of thousands of Mobile residents.
The new storage tanks will be located less than 1/4 mile from a densely populated housing project and just over 500 feet from the head of Royal Street in Downtown Mobile

Not only is this an environmental nightmare, it is also a huge environmental injustice for the people directly impacted by the path. Politicians will tell you that the people in the corridor sold their right of way (ROW) willingly. That is not quite all of the truth. Many people were forced to sell under the threat of takings through imminent domain. (Sell it or we take it)

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

As we flew from Pascagoula to Mobile I was surprised to see how many wetlands were being impacted. In the event of a rupture this will present a nightmare to contain.

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

One thing sticks out like a sore thumb and that is the crossing of Mobile Alabama's drinking water source at Big Creek Lake. It actually crosses the existing pipeline carrying water to Mobile!

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

We flew over the 10 Mile Storage facility owned by Plains All American. It was evident from all of the new construction that they anticipate the expansion will be approved. Why not, our politicians seem to think that profits for industry should always outweigh people, health and safety!

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

 Leaving the 10 Mile facility we flew Southeast toward Mobile. Once again the close proximity to residents stood out prominently. I could see children's swing sets, yard equipment, horses, cows, and peoples front doors within only a few feet from the pipeline and the potential disaster looming there.

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

As we entered the Downtown area of Mobile Tom pointed out where the new storage tanks would be built. They will lie only about 1,000 feet from a densely populated housing project and only about 500 feet from Royal Street. (distances taken from Google Earth)

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

Directly across the river is where ARC wants to expand their holding tanks and install a subsurface pipeline under the Mobile River connecting the new tanks at the rail head and the expanded tank farm on Old Spanish Trail (Google)

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

We flew up 3 mile Creek to the ARC Saraland site. Here railroad cars are brought to load trucks with oil reported to be tar sands oil. From the photos it was clear to see that there were already problems with the site.

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

These tank trucks are leaking badly and appear to have been doing so for some time. The trucks can be seen in Google Earth as early as Jan. 2012. 

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

Photo by John L. Wathen, Pilot Tom Hutchings

Close up shots of the train cars here revealed the same numbering sequence as ones also seen in Downtown Mobile belonging to Canada National Railroad.

ARC Saraland

Downtown Mobile

People living close to and impacted by this project are not being heard. Lands have been taken by greedy oil mongers through good old boy politics. That needs to be exposed and shown to the elected powers that have backed this play for profit. Any politician who supports such a recipe for disaster needs to be replaced at the next election. If such a pipeline is built, it certainly needs to take a different path considering the health and safety of ALL impacted residents.

There are simply too many unknowns and misinformation being released that say this is OK. I call on every group that has any environmental stake in this to examine it for what it's worth and denounce this as a bad idea.

Give them a call and express yourself!

Below is a video I created to expose the entire route of the pipeline and what I consider important issues associated with it. For more information concerning the pipeline and it's impacts to residents of Alabama and Mississippi, contact Tar Sands Oil Mobile

40,000-pound tar mat unearthed on Grand Terre

40,000-pound tar mat unearthed on Grand Terre

By Nikki Buskey
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 5:45 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 7:51 p.m.

A 40,000-pound tar mat unearthed in the surf off Grand Terre island is a sign that three years after the Gulf oil spill, the disaster continues to affect the Louisiana coast, state and environmental officials said Wednesday.

Grand Terre is an uninhabited barrier island east of Grand Isle. The tar mat, which was 165-feet long by 65-feet wide, was a mixture of sand, shells, oil and water. It was removed over a period of a few weeks.

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Chairman Garret Graves said the tar mat is evidence that BP’s cleanup along the Louisiana shoreline has been insufficient.

BP couldn’t be reached for comment.

“Continuing to find oil mats in our shoreline proves that our concerns are warranted,” Graves said.

Federal on-scene coordinators for the spill are ending active cleanup this month in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The Coast Guard and BP are still engaging in active cleanup at several Louisiana sites, including Grand Isle, Grand Terre, Elmer’s Island, Fourchon Beach and East Timbalier.

Louisiana officials have repeatedly voiced concerns about buried oil being left behind.

A joint statement from environmental groups, including the National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation and the Environmental Defense Fund, says Louisiana’s vital barrier islands, which are in jeopardy due to coastal erosion, took the brunt of the damage from the oil disaster.
“Barrier islands provide a first line of defense against storm surge, protecting communities and habitats, and they are also nurseries and breeding grounds for many species of Gulf fish, wildlife and migratory birds,” the statement says. “BP misleads audiences when it declares cleanup victory in the Gulf. It may try to sweep this recent news under the rug, but it’s going to take a pretty big broom to hide a 40,000-pound tar mat.”

Reports say the tar mat was made up of 15 percent oil and 85 percent sand, shells and water. But the entire mat itself was considered hazardous and had to be removed from the area, the groups point out.

Local officials have said BP and the Coast Guard have responded to concerns about buried oil and tar mats, sampling the beach by drilling augering holes to look for oil under the surface sands and sending scuba Shoreline Cleanup Assistance Teams to probe in the wave line for submerged oil mats on Fourchon Beach. Tar balls and tar mats have washed up regularly on the beach since the spill.

Terrebonne Coastal Restoration Director Nic Matherne said the parish has been working with the state to receive bimonthly briefings on ongoing cleanup efforts.

“There’s so much oil we’ll continue to uncover oil for years. We’re staying informed and staying on top of the issue,” Matherne said.

He added that officials have to balance the need to unearth buried oil with preventing damage to sensitive habitats like barrier islands.

“We’ve worked with the Coast Guard and the incident management team to stay informed of their modelling on wave action and where they are most likely to surface, and that’s an ongoing effort,” Matherne said.

Graves said responders have cleaned up 2.8 million pounds of oil in Louisiana this year alone.

“That’s 99 percent of all the oil removed in the Gulf,” Graves said.

Graves cited statistics that more than 1 million barrels of oil still remain unaccounted for since the spill.

“That’s five times the Exxon Valdez spill,” he said. “We can’t just wait for it to come to shore. Most importantly, we’re only seeing this oil on the beaches we have in Louisiana. What’s happening in our wetlands?”

He called for BP to set up a proactive monitoring system that can identify tar mats offshore and collect them before they wash in.

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 448-7636 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

Miners, if you can't afford safety then get out 

TAHU POTIKI

OPINION: Our South Island communities are being courted and consulted a little more vigorously than usual, thanks to an opportunity for the big mining companies to explore our ocean floors for signs of gas and oil.
These companies have known for a long time that there is potential for extraction in a number of offshore sites but, for one reason or another, the numbers simply haven't stacked up or the political environment has not been conducive. But things are different now and it seems the best opportunity to make some money is now.
It is not a fait accompli by any stretch of the imagination and in the current environment the best progress is going to be made when all community stakeholders are on board.
This is a big ask, as we saw this week when Conservation Minister Nick Smith announced Bathurst could proceed with opencast mining on the conservation estate.
The whole thing may yet be derailed by legal proceedings but Bathurst believes it can run a viable operation, with all the best practice initiatives in place, and still contribute $22 million to local conservation projects.
I fully understand that where all the factors are well known, associated management challenges are adequately mitigated and the safety issues are implemented and monitored well, then a reliable operation can be run.
This is particularly true of land-based mining.
It is important to note the economic viability of any mining needs to take all of these factors into consideration.
Cost savings when it comes to safety are not an option. A Rolls-Royce operation, which is what we deserve and what we should demand, comes at a cost and that will be the real leveller.
If the figures don't stack up: that is, you can't afford the safety, then get out of town.
The game is a little different in the open sea.
Anadarko is one of the companies that may be drilling in the Great South Basin and it has been actively engaging with iwi and many other community stakeholders.
Not surprisingly, they are talking about the innocuous impact of their exploration technology, and how friendly they are to whales and other charismatic mega-fauna.
All sorts of discussions are being had about how the company can make a meaningful contribution to the community, and ensure an enduring and productive long-term relationship.
Excuse my cynicism but these types of negotiations struggle to pass my sincerity test. That is not to say all multinationals with a reputation for natural resource exploitation should be tossed to the side but, for me, the hurdle is pretty high.

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Yesterday, I met with veteran activist Mike Smith and a photojournalist from the United States who was on the ground, and in the air, during the weeks following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
His view was that the incident, and the subsequent cleanup, was less than transparent and quite convoluted with deliberate misinformation and a poorly co-ordinated operation.
They particularly pointed out that Anadarko, one of the companies possibly operating off the South Island coastline, has been implicated in the Gulf of Mexico spill. Anadarko was a 25 per cent partner in the BP and Haliburton-led operation, although it claims it was only a financial partner.
Others argue that Anadarko was involved in critical decision-making.
It is certainly on the end of legal proceedings in the US that accuse it of not fully declaring how much it knew about the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the impact it would have on the value of the company.
My personal concern with any deep-sea drilling here is the ability to mitigate against any disaster.
I do not oppose the principle of mineral or fossil-fuel extraction but what if it all goes to crap?
It certainly did in the Gulf of Mexico and the means to tidy up the mess were far from adequate or effective.
The primary intervention was the use of something called Corexit, a dispersant that coagulates the spilt oil, which then disappears below the surface of the ocean.
Britain banned the use of Corexit dispersants in 1998 and many expert scientists believe it is more harmful than the oil itself.
A survey of the health impacts of Corexit on cleanup workers showed eye, nose and throat irritation, respiratory problems, blood in urine, rectal bleeding, seizures, nausea and violent vomiting, skin irritation, burning and lesions, short-term memory loss, liver and kidney damage, central nervous system damage, hypertension and miscarriages.
In New Zealand, the first line of defence, if we were to experience a significant oil spill, would be to use Corexit.
It was most recently used following the Rena crisis off Tauranga two years ago.
If that is as good as it gets, then it isn't good enough.

(for those in the US, mining in New Zealand is the same as what we refer to as drilling for oil)

Local doc presses BP claims

JOHN DeSANTIS | TRI-PARISH TIMES

Mike Robichaux

Posted: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 11:42 am

By JOHN DeSANTIS Senior Staff Writer 

In the weeks, months and years following the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, Dr. Mike Robichaux drew international attention as he cared for people he maintains were sickened by the incident’s aftermath, occasionally advocating on their behalf within the legal system.
And he’s not done.
The Mathews physician, who calls himself a “simple country doctor,” has been busy with a letter-writing campaign seeking to have the medical aspects of a class-action settlement re-defined. And although the federal judge overseeing the matter has approved a program for medical settlement that Robichaux faults, he is still not done.
“I realize that I’ve worn out my welcome over the last few months,” states a letter from Robichaux to U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier. “However, the health and care of my patients supersedes my reluctance to annoy you any further.”
Robichaux, a former Louisiana state senator and LSU football star, has also written the attorneys general of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. He wants them to look at his opinion – from a medical perspective – that the settlement process has been “corrupted” because it ignores matters he sees of clear medical importance.
Robichaux’s letter questions the manner in which claims of illness are being handled in the settlement. While court papers refer to various ailments related to exposure of people to crude oil and other chemicals, Robichaux says there is in no way enough emphasis on long-term effects. Chronic conditions that may still be developing as well as various cancers, in Robichaux’s opinion, are not being taken seriously. Failing to clearly state illnesses that he is convinced show signs of manifesting now, Robichaux maintains, could result in difficulty should people now involved in the settlement press claims of chronic illness later, even though there is some protection against that built into the settlement.
In December, Barbier issued a judgment certifying who qualifies for the class of people suffering economic and property damage due to the disaster and approved a settlement agreement.
Approval of the medical portion was announced late last week.
“Parts of the agreement between the Plaintiff Steering Committee, appointed by Judge Barbier, and BP relied on premises that, in my opinion, had no basis in fact and completely distorted the reality of the long-term consequences of these illnesses,” Robichaux said Monday in an interview.
Last spring, advocates for workers and residents saw the inclusion of potential compensation for future illness as a big plus while the litigation package was being hammered out. Robichaux says he is convinced, however, that the process does not go far enough.
Top among the credentials Robichaux presents as a man of medicine who should be heeded is the fact that he has personally treated people affected by the spill. Robichaux also opines that some of the most important chronic potentials are likely to mirror Gulf War illness.
He notes in his letter to Barbier a statement entered into the court record by Dr. Michael Harbut, a physician with impeccable background but who did not – in the court statement – refer to aspects of the longer-lasting medical problems.
Robichaux was disturbed by this, he said, because he has seen medical literature that shows Harbut and other experts who appear to be ignoring long-term aspects of exposure are well aware of the long-term risks.
“I was fascinated when I realized that he is an exceptional clinician and genuine ‘Good Guy,’ who is a formidable presence in our profession and in his medical specialty,” Robichaux told the judge.
Robichaux has advised Barbier that, in his opinion, the settlement contains flaws that could keep people who contracted chronic illnesses from being adequately compensated and getting the care that they need.
Robichaux’s letter is dated Dec. 7 and has not received a reply from Barbier.
The medical settlement program is limited in most cases to people living with certain physical proximity to the disaster, or who worked directly in its proximity during the cleanup.
Those people may still press claims at a later time if it is discovered that they have developed illnesses related to the spill. But Robichaux says that’s not good enough, that there should be a way to give greater assurance within the settlement.
Local attorneys involved with the litigation confirmed that there are options for people who may have other illnesses at a later time, but also acknowledged that they were not entirely sure of the limitations and that the claims they handle are largely been limited to those now before Barbier.
“It is my most sincere belief that the proposed agreement between BP and the Plaintiff Steering Committee has been severely corrupted and should be rejected,” Robichaux’s letter states.
Asked to explain in detail what he desires, Robichaux said the goal is for Barbier “to reject the medical part of the settlement. The chronic illnesses stated in there are false. This is supposed to be a true document. The attorneys will say it is the best we can get in negotiation.”
Robichaux notes that while people working on the attorney steering committee and representatives from BP got to speak at a recent hearing, the people most affected – those who say they are ill – did not.
“So there is no public record on any of these things, no record that these sick people existed,” the Mathews doctor said, complaining that the potentials for chronic illness have been cast into the land of “what if.”
Robichaux is not the only physician with a strong opinion about the process.
Dr. Kaye Kilburn, a Pasadena medical toxicologist who has seen patients with illnesses related to the spill, not only agrees with Robichaux, but says the geographic area used to determine who is eligible for a medical claim should be made bigger.
Kilburn said enough tests have not been done to ensure that all areas with potential wind-blown effects from burned oil and other chemicals during the cleanup process are identified.
“I have examined some of the people and Dr. Robichaux and I agree that we have a huge health problem that is being actively suppressed, in Raceland and all the way to Grand Isle,” Kilburn said in a telephone interview last week. “I think the problem is far wider, that it extends 200 or 300 miles from the site. What I found was lots of neurological impairments. These people in Louisiana, they are not complainers. They are stoic people. Some had few complaints but they showed with impairment of balance and slowing of reaction time, difficulty discriminating color. They had memory and brain fog, confusion. We have methods for doing objective testing on these things, on these concealed damages. An ordinary doctor would say it’s all in your head … but these doctors are misleading the people. This is the worst type of misjudgment and inhumanity.”
Robichaux and Kilburn have sought help from private donors for enough testing to be done to make a clear and convincing case to attorneys or to the courts.
Although he is receiving no compensation for his efforts, Robichaux said this weekend he plans to keep pressing the issue, even though the chances he will go unheard are great.
“There are a large number of formerly healthy American Citizens who have suffered life-altering illnesses as the result of exposure to chemicals released by a foreign corporation in American waters.” Robichaux said. “To the best of my knowledge, there has not been a penny paid out for the care of these individuals by this corporation and this corporation has been successful, to date, in obscuring the severity and extent of the illnesses being suffered by our fellow countrymen.”

 

Hands Across The Sands New Zealand

My friends. I am here in the fight of a lifetime to  "Stop Deep Sea Drilling" in New Zealand.

The groundswell of momentum to stop deep water drilling is almost intoxicating. People, businesses, tribal leaders, and even the children seem to be together in their love and heart felt commitment to protect New Zealand from the horrors we went through in the Gulf. As we all know the only way to keep the disaster from these shores is to stop the drilling in deep water before it begins.

There has been a series of meetings with locals and Hui assemblies where I have presented my photos and videos from our BP mess.

Kaikoura Public presentation

The people were more than willing to come out publicly to say no deep sea drilling. Even the town councilman who was in attendance said the town had begun drafting a resolution to say no. Many businesses such as Strawberry Tree (a local pub) have been very outspoken in the movement to stop this madness.

Abbey tags a wall in the Strawberry Tree

Whale Watch is one of the most influential businesses in the district and has come out strongly against. It's a good thing because we, in the US, know what a single disaster like our Gulf can do to all marine life. Imagine no one being able to see these majestic creatures again!

A Sperm Whale off the coast of Kaikoura

Of all the wonderful sights and people of this trip, the children of the Kaikoura Suburban School have absolutely the most inspiring event yet.

I was asked to speak to a group of grade school students about my experiences in the Gulf of Mexico. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about it. I am used to speaking to adults about what corrupt and dangerous neighbors BP was to us and their "silent partner" Anadarko. I had never been asked to talk to children about it.

I was ushered into a classroom full of children who welcomed me with songs and a very impressive display of their resolve to help protect their Moana (Ocean)

After the talk I asked if they had any questions they wanted to ask. I was very impressed with what they asked.

Kids are the true hope for the future.

They are practicing for Hands Across The Sands Kaikoura

 SO here is the ask of my friends in America. We have a great momentum here and I actually believe we can stop deep water drilling off the coast of Aotearoa (New Zealand) but need to let the people here know that they are not alone in the fight. When Hands Across The Sands America happens on the 18th, I want as many people in America as possibly to make and display some signs to say "We support no deep sea drilling in New Zealand" or words to that effect. Take video, and or photos of the event and send them to me on Facebook (John Wathen) or email at hccreekkeeper@gmail.com

I will then spread them all over the islands here to show our support for this monumental movement. Good on ya for doing this. Together we can shove these drill crazy son's of BP back home to Texas with their tail tucked!

May 6, 2013 6:50 pm

Protests mount on use of BP Gulf spill funds

By Ed Crooks in New York

A plan to build a convention centre in Alabama using money given by BP to restore the coast of the Gulf of Mexico has angered environmentalists, raising concerns over how funds to improve the environment are spent.
The plan is part of projects worth $594m announced last week by BP and the five coastal states affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, funded out of the $1bn that the company promised in 2011 for early restoration of the Gulf.

Groups including the National Wildlife Federation have protested that building the convention centre in Gulf State Park in Alabama, justified as a way to improve public access to the natural resources of the coast, will do nothing to repair the damage done by the spill.
The controversy is a foretaste of even fiercer disagreements that are likely over the much larger sums expected to flow into the region in damages and penalties following the trial over the disaster at the federal court in New Orleans.
The convention centre is planned as part of a refurbishment of the park using $85.5m of BP’s money: the bulk of the $94m spending announced in Alabama last week. It will replace a lodge that was wrecked by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Robert Bentley, Alabama’s governor, said the centre, which will be built and run by a public-private partnership, would create jobs and generate more tourism in the state.
David White of the NWF said his organisation was “shocked” by the decision.
“The American public expects to see BP’s oil spill money spent on projects that will restore the health of the Gulf coast, not on pork-barrel projects like a convention centre,” he said.
Another group, Alabama Coast United, said the governor had “decided to cause more damage by disturbing land that has been reclaimed by nature”, rather than spending money to remove oil that settled on the seabed along the coast.
Several of the new projects announced by BP are not directly related to damage done by the spill.
Texas, for example, is spending more than $10.7m to restore Galveston Island State Park to its condition before Hurricane Ike in 2008.
In Florida, $10.8m is being spent to remove asphalt from beaches, and $4m on two passenger ferries.
BP said that although some of the places where its money was being spent had not been directly affected by the spill, the projects would “address loss of use by providing residents and visitors with new recreational options, better access to existing natural resources and a greater opportunity to enjoy them”.
Projects have to be approved by BP and the natural resource trustees, which are representatives of several US federal government departments and agencies, and the coastal states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas.

What a long strange trip it's been!

I will be making my public debut here in NZ on Wed. It is an honor to be representing My friends and family in the Gulf and my brothers and sisters of the Waterkeeper Alliance. 

A local radio station here interviewed me today and I told them the truth. We had thousands of people, hundreds of ships, boats and even Corexit and we failed miserably at keeping it off of our shores and our people got sick then and still today are sick from that failure!

This was in the local paper here in Wellington today.

Eye witness shares stories of oil spill Photojournalist in Kaikoura

Last updated 13:41 01/05/2013

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Kaikoura bound: Environmentalist, John Wathen is holding a presentation of Wednesday next week about the Gulf oil disaster

Kaikoura

 

An American photojournalist will share his eye-witness account of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster at a free seminar in Kaikoura on Wednesday next week.
The community is invited to John Wathen's presentation, which will include a short film and discussion.
The evening is hosted by No Drill Kaikoura and Greenpeace, and will include an update on deep sea oil drilling proposals in New Zealand.
Mr Wathen is an environmental photojournalist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He chartered a plane to fly over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, capturing images of the spill as it developed.
Since 2010, Mr Wathen has continued to document the after-effects and the impacts on coastal communities.
Mr Wathen is a member of the International Waterkeepers Organisation that campaigns for the protection of waterways, and was the recipient of the Waterkeeper's River Hero of the Year Award in 2012.

For more information contact: Ralph Hogan 03 319 6637.
The seminar is at 7pm in the Memorial Hall supper room.

BP SLICK IN NEW ZEALAND!

IT'S OFFICIAL FOLKS

Your Hurricane Creekkeeper in New Zealand??!!

Hurricane Creekkeeper on Hurricane Creek, Photo by Ken Robinson

As your Hurricane Creekkeeper I've had the privilege of being the advocate for one of the most beautiful places on Earth, Hurricane Creek. Kenneth Robinson will be standing in as Your Hurricane Creekkeeper while I am away. Let Ken know if you see anything that needs attention... kennethrobinson1@netzero.com (205-310-0995)

 

Through my involvement in groups like the Citizens Coal Council and Waterkeeper Alliance I have become associated with some of the worlds most passionate water advocates.

Waterkeeper Alliance in Baja

Part of being your Hurricane Creekkeeper is the ability to capture evidence and present it in a way that is both passionate and not sensationalized. What I see is sensational enough without making it bigger than it is. That process has taken me to some of the largest man-made disasters in history. I took my cameras to Kingston Tenn. to document the coal ash pond disaster there with my sister Waterkeeper, Donna Lisenby.

Donna Lisenby, Upper Watauga Riverkeeper  documents dead fish

We were given the bums rush out of the river by TVA goons with trucks, boats, and helicopters! You would have thought we had committed some heinous crime instead of collecting evidence in what was at that time the largest spill of any toxic material into a river in American History.
We were actually given citations for paddling a canoe and a kayak in a Waterway of The US.

Officer John B. Neal issues citation to Upper Watauga Riverkeeper

John L. Wathen, Sandra Diaz, and Donna Lisenby proudly display our citations

Little did I know then that the Kingston coal ash disaster would follow me home to Alabama in a subtle and devious manner of it's own.

Enter Perry County

The ash was not cleaned up but only transferred to Perry County, Alabama in a whirlwind of toxic issues of it's own.

Then in April, 2010, America suffered another huge man-made disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf of Mexico, 05/07/2010

Again, I had a front row seat for the largest man-made disaster in our history! This one was the most dramatic spectacle of callous greed and deceit I had ever encountered. Media was intimidated to a point where they were afraid to report anything. BP had goons all over the place trying to keep the story down using any methods available to stop the truth. I went over their heads, so to speak by using a flight service named SouthWings.

John Wathen, SouthWings pilot, Tom Hutchings, and Industrial Scars photographer, Henry Fair

It has now come to me to put these disasters to good use.

I have been asked to come to New Zealand for a month to work with Green Peace New Zealand.

It will be my honor to meet and greet with environmental groups and tribal elders of the Maori People  to share what I have seen and experienced in both the coal and oil industries in my journeys across America's oil and coal fields.

Follow me on this new and fabulous adventure where I will attempt to put all of this horror story of American Extraction technology to good use informing the people of New Zealand of what can be expected if they allow deep water drilling in their sacred tribal waters.

The wells in New Zealand will be almost twice as deep as BP's Deepwater Horizon, with bigger pipes, and only 3 (THREE) oil response vessels that can't even leave the harbors because they are so small the waves will capsize them. Imagine what will happen if (when) the have a disaster like ours! We had hundreds of boats, planes, people on the ground and "supposedly" well trained responders.

 

 It is my sincere hope that what happened in the Gulf of Mexico will be a warning to the Maori of what is more likely to happen to their pristine waters than not. I will also be working to start up a Waterkeeper New Zealand program to further support world wide clean water that is Fishable, Drinkable, Swimmable, any where in the world.

You can keep up with my trip and it's success by adding BP Slick to your reading list.

Here's an example of what I have been told to expect...

(turn on the closed captions for English translation)