My apologies Mr. Feinberg. I have written a number of things up here, laying the blame for the slow payments of reparations firmly at your feet. I questioned your promises. I doubted your ability to do the job. I insinuated you were naive. Sorry. I felt that by promising people they would get their emergency payments in twenty-four hours and businesses inside a week you … Continue reading My bad, I thought the slow payments were Ken’s fault
In an article by AP, which spoke with oil industry experts and took a look at the Mineral Management Service, the Bureau of Ocean Management Service, not much has changed and with the drilling moratorium set to expire on November 30th, one might be inclined to question – what was the point of the moratorium in the first place, beyond a press story to give … Continue reading So, What has Big Oil and Obama Learned? Apparently, Not Much
Okay, so maybe they didn’t say that directly, but what else are we to assume if these two agencies, designed to protect and inform the American electorate tells us the water and air in the Gulf of Mexico are safe despite independent testing by Oregon State University that shows this dramatic elevation in PAH’s? And yes, exposure to some of these Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons have … Continue reading NOAA, EPA Says 40 Fold Increase in Gulf Carcinogens is Safe
In perhaps a poor choice of words, Ken Feinberg said yesterday, “No grocery receipts, no documentation, just an allegation of subsistence loss. Four thousand claims where the claim form is exactly the same, including the misspelling. Outrageous! I can’t pay those claims.” So what was he talking about? Apparently Plaquemines Parish Council Chairman, Don M Beshel, frustrated with the slow movement of reparations to the … Continue reading Feinberg says it’s “Outrageous”
When Kenneth Feinberg took over disbursement of the $20 billion dollar fund from BP one month ago, he made the rather startling claim that emergency payments would be underway to people within 24 hours and businesses within a week. One month later, over 40,000 claims remain to be processed. He has been forced to do town hall meetings, to add personnel, then to streamline the claims … Continue reading Feinberg Should Make Amends…
Federal officials and the Obama administration have maintained for well over two months now that all is safe in the gulf: no serious food contamination, no significant risk to air and water quality, no long-term health risks. And all this seems well and good so long as you only ask the government’s scientists. Asking elsewhere, one gets an entirely different story, and from such notable … Continue reading FDA, NOAA Still Not Testing for Heavy Metals or Dispersants in Gulf Seafood
By now many of us have read of British Petroleum’s increased ad spending in the months following the April 20th Deepwater Horizon Explosion. Rep. Kathy Castor was especially upset by this, saying “BP is overdoing it, it’s really making people angry. Every day you get up and see these full-page ads in every newspaper and the TV ads…while BP’s advertising campaign ramped up, businesses and the … Continue reading An Audition: British Petroleum’s Public Relations Department
Tired from watching last night’s game, but this is the kind of political hypocrisy that drives me crazy so I just gotta note: When opening up the waters off the Louisiana coast for fishing, Bobby Jindal can’t find any oil. When making the argument to finish his sand berms, Bobby Jindal and Garret Graves can not only find the oil, it’s everywhere and will be … Continue reading Having it Both Ways
While many, myself included appreciate that the Macondo Well is “effectively dead,” considering the claims that no oil has been leaking from the site since mid-July it is a bit anti-climactic. Many bloggers, myself included have been far more focused on the cleanup activities or lack thereof, the oil still washing up on the beaches and permeating the Gulf, the dying sea life, the increasing … Continue reading The Problem with Sandcastles
You might wonder how crabs in the Gulf have received a clean bill of health from the US Wildlife and Fisheries, especially after the 4.1 million barrels, the 2 million gallons of dispersants, the two to five-inch thick layer of oil on the sea floor, all these fish kills going on in Plaquemines Parish, the people getting sick, the dead whales, the oil yet again hitting sixteen miles … Continue reading Revealed: How Crab Tests Negative for Oil Contamination in the Gulf
Drake Toulouse: Photography and Words 