Something is seriously wrong in our country. British Petroleum has thrown a media blackout over the Gulf Coast, with the apparent complicity of some in our federal and local governments. We are now 51 days into the oil spill disaster, and BP still has such a stranglehold on access to the Gulf that only a few pictures have trickled out of the area. We’ve posted a few pictures of animals in the oil spill, but there haven’t been many of those pictures available for people to see. And the lack of photographs is the direct result of BP’s shutdown of the media. [click to continue…]
You probably don’t want to watch these oil spill pictures with your children. This video contains very graphic oil spill images showing the effects of the Gulf oil spill on wildlife of the area. Associated Press photographers have combined their oil spill images into this video that shows exactly what is happening to the birds of the Gulf. Here’s the oil spill video:
We have the oil spill videos BP doesn’t want you to see – Images of animals coated with oil from the BP oil leak are beginning to appear, and they show the heartbreaking consequences of BP’s gushing leak in the Gulf. These pictures are coming out in spite of a concerted effort by British Petroleum to prevent such images from reaching the American public. You might call these the “forbidden oil spill videos.” Anderson Cooper released the following video of birds soaked in oil:
The Associated Press released another video of Gulf Coast birds soaked in oil, and it shows what words cannot convey. Watching it makes it clear why British Petroleum was doing everything in its power to keep the media away from the shoreline and the site of the oil spill. A videographer who works for BPOilNews.com was prevented from filming weeks ago by BP security personnel in Venice, Louisiana. Mother Jones has reported that it was barred from taking photographs of dead animals. But slowly, images of oil-soaked birds and dead animals are beginning to leak through the BP wall, and they show Americans what British Petroleum so badly doesn’t want us to see. The statistics on dead animals is already alarming: 444 dead birds, 222 dead sea turtles, and 24 mammals (including dolphins).
Here’s an Associated Press oil spill video of Gulf Coast birds soaked in oil.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9-k9UhAjgY
If you have pictures or video of the oil spill and/or animals affected by the oil, please share them with our readers at the BPOilNews Facebook page. For frequent updates of Gulf oil spill news, follow us on Twitter @BPOilNews. [click to continue…]
UPDATED (see last paragraph and new link) – A reader named Bart wrote and said BP should consider using a proven method utilizing ground bagasse (a byproduct of sugar production from cane) infiltrated with ammonia to broadcast over sensitive wildlife areas where oil is washing ashore. According to Bart, the bagasse preferentially absorbs the oil and within a matter of weeks the hydrocarbons, with the aid of natural microbes and the nitrogen source, break down, eliminating the problem. Bart says it seems as though BP should welcome solutions such as this one. Bart tells us that CNN broadcast it on the news today, and says BP appears to be ignoring attempts to alert them to this additional remediation method. Finally, Bart said BP should be reminded by everyone possible to employ all available methodologies.
Thanks Bart. As I’ve said before, I’m a lawyer and don’t know enough about oil spill remediation to know a good idea when I see one. But we have readers who do know the subject matter. If anyone else has an idea that’s not being used, please send it along to us.
UPDATE: Bart sent us an email with an article discussing the use of bagasse to clean up oil. Here’s Bart’s email:
“Check this article describing the usefulness of bagasse (not to mention the huge quantities produced as a byproduct of sugar production) in clinging to oil while repelling water (hydrophobic quality). A CNN spot was even a further modification of the bagasse- it had ammonium and microbial agents also embedded in it to speed up the conversion to small-chain hydrocarbons and eventually organic mulch, just what we will need in the sensitive ecotypes of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.
What do you think of the feasibility of finding some organization to try this preemptively in a test area to prove to the corporate types that they should be purchasing all of this treated bagasse they can get their hands on and hiring crop dusting planes to be at the ready for the moment any of these oil slicks hit the bayous? Would that be too proactive for our society? (Link to bagasse article).
