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Gulf Shrimpers Find Oil In Reopened Fishing Areas. Governnment Says "Shut Up". Sierra Club Alleges Areas Were Solely Reopened to Limit BP's Liability
While the government says that the oil is gone, shrimpers say its still there.
The Press-Register reports:
Opening
state offshore waters to fishing and winding down the cleanup effort
on the coast is premature, said Louie Miller, state director of the
Mississippi Sierra Club.
"We've got shrimpers out there saying
there is oil out there," Miller said. "We had a meeting Wednesday night
where we had over 150 shrimpers... who are saying there is oil out
there and these underwater plumes are varying in size and shape. This
stuff is obviously moving around out there."
***
[William
Walker, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine
Resources] "If you are not going to validate what you are saying through
accepted scientific protocol and approaches, then quit talking about it
without any evidence what you are saying is true," Walker said.
In other words, shut up.
Obviously,
gulf shrimpers have a strong motivation to have everyone think that the
shrimp is safe and the oil is all gone. They wouldn't be speaking out
unless the problem was fairly bad.
Indeed, the Sierra Club accuses the government of reopening oiled fishing grounds to limit BP's liability:
The
existence of oil is irrefutable, Miller said. Oil has reappeared on
beaches in Alabama, Petit Bois and Horn islands and continues to wash
ashore in Louisiana, he said.
Miller said there also is evidence of submerged oil.
"It
is a weird thing. It is like strands, this black water, as they are
calling it. It is like strands that are about three to four times the
thickness of human hair. These things can be about foot-and-a-half, to
five- to six-feet-long."
Miller said the assumption is oil that has been dispersed.
"To open up these waters, in my opinion, is nothing more than to limit the liability of BP to pay claims," he said.
"Because now they can deny any claims after the time at which these waters were opened back up," Miller said.
PBS Newshour also covered the shrimpers' distrust of the government's claims that all is well:
PBS:
[Vice president of the Louisiana Shrimpers Association Acy] Cooper
says despite government claims that most of the oil is gone, there’s
plenty of it still on the bottom.
COOPER: I went out there and
we made about four or five passes with the wheel, with the boat,
stirred up the mud, and before you know it, oil was coming up. So these are the kind of areas that we need to distinguish where it's at, and these are the new places we need to keep closed. We don't need to open this. Keep them out of there.
Truthout reports:
Two
days after [William] Walker's announcement [that all was well] and in
response to claims from state and federal officials that Gulf Coast
waters are safe and clean, fishermen took their own samples from the
waters off of Pass Christian in Mississippi.
The
samples were taken in water that is now open for shrimping, as well as
from waters directly over Mississippi's oyster bed, that will likely
open in September for fishing.
Commercial
fisherman James "Catfish" Miller, took fishermen Danny Ross Jr. and
Mark Stewart, along with scientist Dr. Ed Cake of Gulf Environmental
Associates and others out and they found the fishing grounds to be contaminated with oil and dispersants.
***
On
August 13, Truthout visited Pass Christian Harbor in Mississippi. Oil
sheen was present, the vapors of which could be smelled, causing our
eyes to burn. Many ropes that tied boats to the dock were oiled and
much of the water covered with oil sheen.
***
"BP has
bought off all our government officials, and shut them up. You can't
say the oil is gone, it's right here! Them saying it's not here is a
bunch of bullshit."
***
He
worked in the VOO program looking for oil. When his team would find
oil, upon reporting it, they would consistently be sent away without
explanation or the opportunity to clean it. "They made us abort these
missions," he said. "Two days ago I put out boom in a bunch of oil for
five minutes, they told me to abort the mission, so I pulled up boom
soaked in oil. What the hell are we doing out there if they won't let
us work to clean up the oil?"
***
"I can take
anybody in here out and show them oil, every single day," David White, a
local fishing charter captain responded. "I was in the VOO program,
driving around calling in oil, telling them where it is and nobody ever
came. I never saw any skimmers there and I'm talking about some
serious oil. I can show you tar balls going across the bottom like
tumbleweeds."
Yerkes provided Truthout with a
written statement from Lawrence Byrd, a local boat captain who was a
task force leader in the VOO program from June 4 to July 21. On July 27
and 28, Byrd took BP officials, Coast Guard officials and an EPA
official on a fact finding mission in search of oil.
"The
Coast Guard told us if we could show them the oil, they'd put us back
to work," Yerkes told Truthout, "So Byrd took him, and other officials
out on his boat and showed them the oil."
Byrd's statement contains many instances of the group encountering oil on the trips:
"Within
30 minutes in the Rocky Bayou and Boggy Bayou we found 4 different
football field sized areas of oily sheen on the water ... We moved east
from there in search of weathered oil, just past Mid Bay bridge we
found a 2 acre oil slick with a water bottle full of crude oil. At this
time the Coast Guard Lt. had seen enough to warrant a 2nd trip with BP
officials and EPA."The next day, July 28, Byrd wrote:
"On
board were BP officials, a Parson official, 2 Coast Guard Lts and EPA.
First stop Crab Island Destin where we found tar balls, dead fish and
plenty of dead sargasm grass. All officials seemed very concerned about
all of our findings."***
"There
are surfers coming in with oil on them," Yerkes continued, "There are
divers telling us it's on the bottom. We have VOO workers coming in
after finding oil three inches thick atop the water as of last week and
they go back out there and it's gone."
Project Gulf Impact filmed local fishermen saying much the same thing:
“Fishermen do not want to lose our credibility or deliver contaminated seafood to market and make people sick.” – Kathy Birren
“While
President Obama and state officials claim that the Gulf is ‘open for
business,’ these fishermen say the spraying of dispersants in the Gulf
of Mexico is ongoing and they’re concerned that seafood pulled from
impacted waters is unsafe for eating.”
“The tissue testing of
this seafood is inadequate and testing for the toxic dispersants is
non-existent.” – Tracy Kuhns, Louisiana Bayoukeeper
“I think it
is crucial for the public to be made aware of the concerns of the
commercial fishermen. And if a commercial fisherman who makes his
living off of those products doesn’t want to deliver them to the
public, the public needs to know why.” – Chris Bryant, Commercial
Fisherman.
And see this:
Indeed, fishermen hired by BP are still finding tar balls, but are being instructed to hide their discoveries.
Is the Sierra Club right? Are still-oiled fishing areas being reopened solely to limit BP's liability?
Are fishing areas instead being reopened to try to save the Gulf
fishing industry (even though local fishermen and shrimpers would rather
have dangerous areas remain closed so that Gulf seafood's reputation
isn't permanently destroyed)?
Or is it just part of the same old attempt to cover up the severity of the crisis?
One thing is for sure: the oil is not just in the imaginations of shrimpers and fishermen. While government scientists claim that 75% of the oil has
disappeared, independent scientists say that up to 80% of the oil is
still there:
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Run along now bubby. This is where the big kids come to read. Maybe you can start your back to school shopping with an eye toward being the best dressed kid on the short bus. Run along now and Good Luck!
Bubba bought and paid for by BP - nice work.
Your posts are junk.
Keep outing this band of criminals, GW.
I noticed bubba1231 and VWbug and a few others all showed up about 5 weeks ago. I suspect the other more obvious shills needed a new set of cloths in order to carry out their assignments. Or maybe this is just the new rotation into ZH or even just additional alter egos for the old standby shills, who are being seen less and less.
In fact, I've noticed that some of the same old phrases that were used by the old shills are being used by the new shills. And that the new shills seem to have a great deal of knowledge of what was said here on the BP threads 3 or more months ago (way back in late April and May) even though they've only been around 5 weeks or less. Most wouldn't notice unless they read (and comment) ZH on a daily basis, as I do.
Doesn't matter. We know what they are.
If they are government/corporate funded, at least we know these imbeciles are somewhat easy to detect. Gives me hope that they're alot easier to expose then anticipated. P.S. Big oil always fucks us, if they are right, let the little guy fuck big oil or a change.
Very intuitive observation CD, I was noticing the 5 week old junksters myself!
The thing is no one with an ounce of intelligence believes what the trolls say, so they are totally wasting their time. Their propaganda abilities are on the level of Bagdad Bob. And calling himself Bubba, so we'll think he's from the GoM? Please.
I have long suspsected that there are government or industry funded plants who post on message boards like ZH in order to manipulate public opinion by sowing confusion and disinformation. The practice became particularly apparent to me while visiting a certain gun-related message board during the runup to the invasion of Iraq. All of a sudden there was all these new guys pushing an agenda very hard and shouting down any voices of reason.
My message to those jack offs: Stop being part of the problem you assholes!
I noticed that too. Leading up to 9/11 and then the run-up to the invasion of Iraq and then the re-election of Bush ("watch out you Christians, if you vote for Kerry, the gays are going to take over and start marrying!" LOL suckers! wha? Cheney's daughter? wha?... "Viva Bush" LOL again immigrant suckers!), I saw a lot (no, a swarm) of anti-Islamic-anti-Gore-pro-Bush rhetoric all over the financial message boards such as Yahoo, Silicon Investor, etc... There must be a large fund for those shills...
Wait a minute, I still see a lot of that rhetoric now!
Just wondering, do these idiot shills actually get paid to pollute this site?
I wonder if they will also find the magic bunnies that went missing during the magician act at my sons birthday party when he was 5...
I hope those bunnies can swim...
All of us better learn to swim.
GW,
Must suck being short BP stock and having to resort to making an a$$ of yourself on a blog to make the money back. Must be very frustrating.
The truth is that the only real journalism going on in this country is through the blogs and GW is the leading journalist uncovering the truth about the BP oil spill. Keep it up, GW, and no one except idiots think that you're trying to make money off of your work.
I regret that I have but one junk to give, you brain damaged, suicidal, mother fucker. Do us all a favor and die now, some other way. Don't take the rest of us with you (which is what you are doing with this particular suicide method of yours).
Amazing response, bubba. Your post clearly repudiates all the nonsensical claims by GW, eloquently articulated, logically organized and exceptionally supported by scientific data. Post of the day IMO.
<sarcasm off, in case you don't get I'm laughing at you bubba>
Bubba, I wouldn't piss in your mouth if your teeth were on fire, but I'd happily pour a gallon of oil/water/corexit mix down your throat.
by bubba1231 on Tue, 08/10/2010 - 08:28 #512366
You guys are really just not that bright. And I am very happy for that fact because I made a ton of mony off this hype. Smart people knew form the beginning that this was all hype. The Gulf of Mexico deals with massive quantities of oil all the time. It was obvious this was not a major catastrophe. In fact, it is almost a slap in the face to the 11 people that died - that was the real tragedy. Yes, the fisherman should be compensated but seriously if you believe this is all one big conspiracy theory than you are just plain dumb. YEs the oil is gone - in fact probably cloder to 90% of it is gone than 75%.
I am not going mess up GW's thread by posting all your malicious replies. What I will do for the first time in over a year of being at ZH is whine to the Zero Hedge Team - that you be kicked off of ZH. because: 1. you have clearly stated your agenda. 2. you've slandered someone with more integrity than you will ever accumulate in your retched life. 3. your intent is one of malice for personal gain. 4. you are a troll. 5. you are a total asshole.
Nice work, Frank. I have never sensed a hidden agenda on GW's part. Disgraceful.
I second that!
I am short lies, and long truth. I swear on the Bible and under penalty of perjury that I am NOT short BP, Transocean, or any oil services company, fishing, tourism or any company or industry which could even CONCEIVABLY be affected by the Gulf disaster or anything I write. Nice try ...
Truly, I have decided YOU should not have to respond to this kind of crap. No one is this stupid. He knows the truth and has another agenda. Thank you for taking the time to put together the information. You do your namesake honor. Keep up the good work.
I think bubba is great.He is a transparent scumbag/shill...just like the other putrid bags of feces which pollute Zero Hedge with their evil corporate/oligarch agendas.The more obvious of them are entertaining in being so transparent.I like the tag team approach too where they attempt to insert their insidious lies in an effort to serve their masters.
They should be banned for their odious intrusions as well as their inimical agenda.
Excellent article - thank you for keeping us informed GW - great job!
No problem - just make BP buy all the shrimp these guys bring in. If it is good they will actually make money on it - right?
I wouldn't just make them buy it, I would make them eat it.
Well it's damn obvious who we should believe. Daddy (aka government) has no reason to lie to us. But those damn shrimpers want to keep the shrimp beds closed so they can stay on the BP dole.
<sarcasm off>
On a happier note (I think?) it seems they've decided to delay once again the so called relief well bottom kill. It appears that in their rush to stop the flow of oil into the gulf with the top static kill followed by the top cement job, they've caused themselves more problems then they bargained for. Same ole same old. There's more here than we're being told, of this I'm certain.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100817/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutiondeadline
how do I get a link for that Anne Thompson MSNBC piece ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TioRdC-gDLo&feature=player_embedded
Hahaha, anyone at this point who believes in anything other than the government's collusion with BP to shove the whole thing under the giant rug that is the Gulf (quite literally speaking, what with the consistent and now-increasing number of reports of subsurface oil plumes) is either kidding themselves, ignoring history, or just plain tapped-out in the common-sense department...or, possibly a combination of all three. The best part, for sheerly noir entertainment value, is that these scummy corporations and our worthless and weak government officials are so cocksure that we'll just lay down and take it that they aren't even putting forth more than a completely half-assed attempt at covering things up. You take the fishermen who have worked the Gulf for generations, employ them to hunt down and call in the oil, then send them away without cleaning anything up. After that, either under the cover of night or even blatantly during the day, they come in and hose the whole mess with dispersants. When those same fishermen then report what's going on, it'd derided as some vendetta against BP or the government, and the entire issue remains completely obscured or muddled in the public consciousness while the holocaust goes on and on. As I said in another post concerning this whole sad business, I'd be willing to bet that the government and BP believe that they have a long enough time window and the sufficient legal resources (Dewey, Skrewem and Howe) to outlast the entire issue to the degree that there will be no one with a grievance left alive to continue pressing the issue of the consequences of their actions, or lack thereof. Some people think that it's the government screwing them, others believe that it's the enormous global corporations...the sad truth is that both of those entities are collectively thumbing their noses at us, and I seriously doubt that that's a mentality that's restricted to this country alone.
well said.
They don't want to bottom kill because then they cannot produce from the wells.
They would have to reasses the formation for another point to begin producing from it.
So it doesn't get lost at the bottom as I posted this under Bubba's response, but CNN with a story about oil on the ocean floor
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/17/scientists-toxic-oil-settling-on-gulf-floor/
This link not now working.
CD, You ever see the film Bad Boy Bubby? I highly recomend it - seriously - it's great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toY_RRuHu5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT_X0L9ulVs
Just selected it and moved it to the top of my Netflix que. Thanks.
The Saran Wrapped cat is symbolic of.............bubba1231!!
actually, Bubby wrapped the cat thinking it would still be able to breath.
The fact that BP stopped showing anything useful on the live feeds at the same time as the coordinated government/BP lie that the well was killed and 3/4 the oil is gone....well that should be enough to tell us that there is a definitely a coverup going on. And it's approved by and probably encouraged by the Feds.