Oil Spill Confusion

I’d appreciate anyone keeping up with threads about the spill to hear me out, I’ve noticed quite a few widespread misconceptions in these threads. I’m just interested in clearing some things up and hopefully making sure people are better informed.

I just feel the need to clear some things up that I’ve seen people saying. I’ve lived on the Louisiana Gulf Coast all my life; I have a bit more firsthand experience with these subjects than most people. My father works on those rigs (although for a company that actually adheres to safety standards, and thus, wouldn’t have caused a disaster like this one). My family and friends’ lives, as well as mine, are directly impacted by this. And will be for years to come. This is a devastating blow to our culture, our livelihood and our economy, and we’re going to be dealing with this for a very long time. The waters down here are a huge part of our lives, in many ways, and we depend on that relationship. The reality of this crisis is omnipresent in everyday life down here, you’d have to be at an extreme of ignorance to escape it at this point.

I’ll start with spill cleanup, namely, cleaning up oiled birds. People keep talking about this as if just anyone can come down here with a bucket of water and a bottle of Dawn and start scrubbing down birds. No, that’s not the case. That’s a job that only trained professionals can do. One needs to be trained and experienced in both wildlife handling AND keeping themselves safe while being in such close contact with crude oil, which is obviously highly toxic and is already causing workers health problems. People that are coming down here in a huff because of the tragedy that is unfolding and trying to force their way in to “help” are really only complicating things. Those who are outraged upon hearing that people have shown up to help and been turned away are just ignorant. There’s a good reason they’ll tell you to go home if you show up out of the blue and expect to be able to do anything. If someone who is untrained gets a hold of an injured, traumatized, oiled up bird, they will almost certainly injure themselves and most likely kill the bird. The kind of person who gets so worked up that they actually march down to the Gulf Coast to do their part is most likely under the impression that they’ll save the wildlife, but even if all you’re thinking is that you’ll clean up the beach a bit, you’re still wrong. That oil is dangerous; you need to stay away from it unless you have proper training and safety equipment, which is being provided by some volunteer organizations. Do us all a favor: simmer down behind your keyboards, and leave the cleanup and wildlife rehabilitation to the professionals.

If you’re really so serious about getting your ass down here to help, sign up for a LEGITIMATE volunteer organization like these:

Audubon Action

LA Gulf Response

and wait for them to contact you asking for your help.
When you sign up to volunteer, do so with the knowledge that 99% of you won’t be getting anywhere near those birds, if you’re even contacted to help out at all. So if that’s not the prize you wanted, just stay home. They need people clearing up trash in marshes and on beaches to smooth out the process of cleaning up oil when it gets there, they need people doing data entry and answering phones, they need people with boats, and if nothing else they need people to donate money and cleanup supplies. Maybe these jobs aren’t quite what you had in mind, but it’s what we need, and recovery doesn’t pay for itself.
And for god’s sake, don’t just hand out money to the first organization that tells you they’re collecting donations for the Gulf Coast. There are a lot of scams going around right now, get your heads on straight and use your common sense. If you’re being asked for money by an organization you’ve never heard of, that’s a red flag. Google them. If the organization in question doesn’t offer the option of registering to volunteer, or donating supplies instead of money, I consider that a red flag.

[Edited to remove a paragraph that derailed the initial post, and was taken as offensive. Apologies]

*to be continued in next post, I couldn't fit everything in one*

[edit on 6/6/2010 by Kitsunegari]

[edit on 6/6/2010 by Kitsunegari]

[edit on 6/6/2010 by Kitsunegari]

[edit on 7/6/2010 by Kitsunegari]

Next order of business, I’ve seen people saying that this disaster could have happened to any company. No, it really couldn’t have. Deepwater Horizon’s explosion and subsequent sinking, the deaths of those 11 people, this leak that is rapidly becoming the most devastating ecological disaster that we’ve ever seen, all of this is a direct consequence of BP’s operation of that rig. Deepwater Horizon was a ticking time bomb. Safety standards had been bypassed at every step of the way in the process of drilling that well. They didn’t have a plan in place for something catastrophic to happen, it’s like those people shoved their heads farther up their asses specifically so they could more easily ignore the problems Deepwater Horizon was encountering. They either deployed their lifeboats too early or didn’t have enough in the first place, because as I understand it, the standard for offshore rigs is to have enough lifeboats on BOTH sides of a rig to evacuate the entire rig. Simply put, if you were in an emergency situation on a rig and you couldn’t find a lifeboat, that means someone #ed up. In this case, 11 people couldn’t find a lifeboat. While I’m sure that has more than a little bit to do with the actual explosion, 11 people died on that rig. Which means someone REALLY #ed up. But that’s just one strike.

The explosion shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I’m sure they were in a big hurry to get production online and start making money from the Deepwater Horizon project. So, they sped through preliminary testing (for the purpose of, of course, safety) and started up the rig while conveniently ignoring things that had already gone wrong, and signs of things that would likely still go wrong. They spent 10 minutes on tests that should have taken at least an hour. For comparison, when Shell is working on a new project out there, they test equipment every step of the way. They hold meetings with the entire staff of the rig about safety protocols, about the specific equipment in question, about their plan if something goes wrong. They make sure their fail-safe equipment (blowout preventers, for example…) are in perfect working condition before they take another step. If at any point, they find something wrong, they shut down the entire process, remove whatever’s wrong, and go back to the drawing board with another meeting. It’s a tedious process, it keeps people out there on the rigs and away from their families for longer, it delays the startup of the project and making a profit from it, but it ensures that catastrophe does. not. happen. Sure, it’s a dangerous job no matter what, but if things are done right then there’s nowhere near the amount of risk that BP put their employees in.

So, for all you people blaming the entirety of the oil industry, shut up. For all you people blaming the entirety of the developed world for using oil in the first place, shut. up. For all you people blaming Obama? This is not just another excuse for you to bitch about the president of your country because you simply don’t like him. This is a real crisis, affecting the lives of real people. It’s not about your political panties getting in a twist, so kindly shut the # up. I know the federal government has to take their share of the blame for lack of response, but the fact that it happened in the first place has little to do with them. This one comes down to simple negligence. BP, TransOcean, Halliburton and anyone I missed who was involved in the manufacturing, ownership and operation of Deepwater Horizon is to blame, and no one else. If they could have slowed down and stepped back long enough to consider their own recklessness, and implement some REAL safety protocols, I assure you that we wouldn’t be facing this disaster.

I have to address BP’s self interest here. They’re like a child who’s done something wrong and continues to spin a web of bad lies in a vain attempt to cover up what he’s done. It’s pathetic. They’ve been exposed several times now in outright lies and cover ups, they’ve failed to even begin to fix the problem, they are not even close to doing their part. Their pathetic attempts to cap the flow at the leak sites have failed because they were half-assed from the start. BP is not interested in sealing the leak, they’re interested in making sure they can still use as much of that oil as possible and continue making a profit from it. And now look what that’s gotten us.

I’ve gone on enough for now, I may have more to add as time goes on. I’ve tried to be coherent, although I apologize for wherever I’ve lapsed in coherency. It’s an emotional subject. I’m sure my tone was less than friendly as well, so…I ask that no one decide I was attacking them. The posts I see that represent lack of knowledge about this upset me, they anger me. It’s frustrating to see so many people say they care so much but they can’t get facts straight, it’s like they have no idea and don’t care to GET an idea.
I’d also really like to thank anyone who has had the patience to read all of this, I greatly appreciate your time and I hope this was helpful, and not too offensive.



--Kit.

I heard you out for quite a while and then I got to the part where you are telling people to shut up and stop writing about the gulf spill because "they are not there" where you are. Come on, use that brain. People are livid at the destruction of the planet and you're being condescending and telling them all to "shut up".

And who's fault is it if people are being turned away? The fault of the people who allowed it to happen and are still not fixing it.


How dare you tell people to shut up about this. How much did BP pay you to write this?

What I got from that was that if we are not from Louisiana, we should shut up, we should ignore the oil spill, we should leave all the feelings to you all and let you do all the work. You make it sound like we shouldn't care. Yes we not have the first hand experience of being there but you are acting belligerent to assume that it is none of our business.

Wow, okay. I guess you're just going to ignore the part where I stated I needed to vent personal frustrations, and the part where I apologized if I came off the wrong way. I never said it's none of your business, it's the business of the whole world at this point. I'm angry that some people are acting like it's just KILLING them, when it's nowhere near their actual lives. It's right in my face, every day. It's insulting to hear people wail about it when it has nothing to do with them, so I'm sorry that I failed to convey this properly, but that was ENTIRELY not my point. I never said anyone should ignore anything, I never said anyone should stop talking about it or thinking about it or spreading awareness about it. There's a difference between people who are outraged, and people who seem to think it's the end of their world. I should have clarified better, so I do apologize.

But I don't appreciate the rest of that entire post being ignored because of one paragraph. I especially don't appreciate the insinuation that I'm in some way working with BP. You clearly didn't bother to read any further once you decided I was just telling everyone to pretend it's not happening. Yeah. That makes sense.
You should start using that brain too, my friends. I'm FROM down here, as I already said. Why would I ever advocate keeping quiet about it? People need to know so they can donate and volunteer, doing what's in their power to help.

Hopefully that's a little more clear now, and we can get to talking about something that was part of my initial point. I'm sorry for the offense and the confusion.

--Kit.

ok I get where your coming from but a little offended when u stated that we have no right complaining about the oil spill, because THIS IS OUR COUNTRY ALSO WE SHARE THIS WORLD WITH OTHER PEOPLE. plain and simple... the oil spill is affecting the whole country. what your saying is basically like saying this.... hey I'm a fish and I live in the gulf and I don't wanna hear u humans complain about the oil spill because u don't have to live in it I don't see u swiming around on this oil do I? see u can't jus say that because it is affecting everybody in someway.... and don't get me wrong I'm very sympathetic for u and everyone that lives in the gulf or around it I pray that things just go back to normal but I am a lil offended because we share this country world etc and this does affect a lot of people not just the citizens of Louisiana.

Honestly, it's a tough time for everyone, from the OP to everyone else out there who feels helpless and angry at what is happening.


Those wetlands belong to our entire nation, and it is better to mourn with our fellow citizens than to follow any other course.

Thank God people still have compassion, it's never out of place.

Big hugs to the OP and to all who have taken the time to care, learn, pray, volunteer, or just show and experience human sympathy for the coast and for this mindless tragedy.

You're absolutely right, I posted in response to those thoughts and removed that paragraph from my original post. I let my anger get the best of me at the time I wrote that, and I should have thought it through better, so I apologize to everyone who has read so far. That paragraph has been replaced with a statement that an offensive paragraph was removed.
I am sorry, everyone, I made a mistake. Thank you for reading.

--Kit.

Hi Kit. I am nowhere near your beautiful gulf but we do all share this planet of ours and if part of it is hurt, we all hurt.. eventually, one way or another.

We have had minor spills along our coast as well and I understand your frustration with volunteers just showing up, yes it is a job for professionals but you need to understand that some people just need to be 'there' to show they care. We had the same problem here and at the end of the day, it was so wonderful to know that we had so many people that did care!

Granted, our spills were nowhere near as disasterous (nowhere near!!!!) as yours, but the oil still did reach our beaches and affect our commercial fishermen and wildlife so there are some of us who 'sortof' understand your frustrations.

I truly do hope BP (or someone, anyone) can fix this soon.

reply to post by damn_ummmm


Thank you for your understanding and kind words. It is good to know that people care, especially when the government and people in positions of authority who could help us do not care, and will not help us. I suppose my anger and frustration has been misplaced, and I will take greater care in the future to not lash out where it is not appropriate. And perhaps from now on I'll hold off on the essay writing until I've calmed down a bit

I know that there are many people who can directly understand, and even those who can't have every right to be outraged with us. I got caught up in thinking about how much we have already been through down here and sometimes it truly does feel like no one understands or truly cares. We see a trend of non-responsiveness from the government when disaster happens here, and without higher officials coordinating relief efforts, there are none. Seeing the lack of response from the government makes it easy to assume that they don't care and neither does anyone else, which all too easily creates a feeling of isolation and a sort of 'us-versus-them' mentality.

reply to post by Kitsunegari


Kit:

Let me first say I read through your first post, and while I was put off a little.. I wanted to make sure I was able to take the time to respond correctly, as you obviously put a great deal of time and thought into your post. The least I could do is put the same into my response.

I will only respond to the wildlife issue..

I couldn't pat you on the back enough for pointing this out to people.

I have worked professionally with wildlife for 5 years, and I grew up taking care of wild animals, not just a dog or a cat. You couldn't be more right.

I know that people want to help. Many here on ATS I know have a very soft spot for animals. Trust me, I get that. I am one of you, but Kit is right, leave this to professionals.. not just with this oil spill, but in general. I can't tell you how many people I have seen, only in my short amount of time in working in the field, try to take an injured animal home to care for it. I would say well over 90 percent of the time, the animal will not make it. Either they are not cared for properly.. they are not cared for enough before release.. or they are released into the wrong setting. It doesn't take long for some types of animals to become domesticated, in that they begin to depend on the human to meet it's needs, especially if they are young. This will lead to them not being able to adjust back into a wild setting fast enough and most certainly lead to their death.

While it is noble that you want to help, I feel it is better for nature if we allow animals to die naturally if we cannot adequately provide for them. If you really care about nature, then you will allow it to take it's course if you are not properly trained. If you still try, I can assure you to almost a certainty that death will still be the outcome, and I would question if you really care, or if you are just trying to help to be self seeking.

Some of you will say, well this is a man made disaster, and not natural. You are correct, but it doesn't change the fact that these animals that are covered in oil need special care only trained professionals can give them. I'm not saying this to be rude, I'm saying it because like so many of you.. I love animals too. Even with my training, I would still need some safety courses to be able to deal with the crude oil.. which like Kit mentioned.. is highly toxic.

I guess I've made my point clear.. anything else would be beating the horse to death.

Again, good post Kit. I'm glad that I saved this to come back to later, as you had removed and apologized for your initial post. I commend you for that.

Good luck down there.

reply to post by Kitsunegari


It's not true that I stopped reading after that point , kit. I actually got really far into the thread and I read where you told me to shut up about the gulf spill at least six times before I had to quit



It was more than just a paragraph that had to be removed, as you and I and many others know. But I don't care how you want to spin it. I see you have apologized and I , like others I'm sure, appreciate that.

I imagine the people in your state must be close to going mad. After the way the government failed in so many major ways with Katrina, and having this on top of that, people there must feel like the Universe freaking hates Louisiana.

I hear what you are saying, I heard it before the edits, but like anyone else it doesn't really matter what someone is telling me if that person is being insulting while he does because it's a turn off. Only Gordon Ramsay has the ability to do what you were trying to do


Peace