What BP Doesn’t Want You to Know About the 2010 Gulf Spill

"It’s as safe as Dawn dishwashing liquid.” That’s what Jamie Griffin says the BP man told her about the smelly, rainbow-streaked gunk coating the floor of the “floating hotel” where Griffin was feeding hundreds of cleanup workers during the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, the workers were tracking the gunk inside on their boots. Griffin, as chief cook and maid, was trying to clean it. But even boiling water didn’t work.

“The BP representative said, ‘Jamie, just mop it like you’d mop any other dirty floor,’” Griffin recalls in her Louisiana drawl.

Griffin did as she was told: “I tried Pine-Sol, bleach, I even tried Dawn on those floors.” As she scrubbed, the mix of cleanser and gunk occasionally splashed onto her arms and face. Within days, the 32-year-old single mother was coughing up blood and suffering constant headaches. She lost her voice. “My throat felt like I’d swallowed razor blades,” she says.

Then things got much worse. Like hundreds, possibly thousands, of workers on the cleanup, Griffin soon fell ill with a cluster of excruciating, bizarre, grotesque ailments. By July, unstoppable muscle spasms were twisting her hands into immovable claws. In August, she began losing her short-term memory. After cooking professionally for 10 years, she couldn’t remember the recipe for vegetable soup; one morning, she got in the car to go to work, only to discover she hadn’t put on pants.

The right side, but only the right side, of her body “started acting crazy. It felt like the nerves were coming out of my skin. It was so painful. My right leg swelled—my ankle would get as wide as my calf—and my skin got incredibly itchy.”

Yet three years later, the BP disaster has been largely forgotten, both overseas and in the U.S. Popular anger has cooled. The media have moved on. Today, only the business press offers serious coverage of what the Financial Times calls “the trial of the century”—the trial now under way in New Orleans, where BP faces tens of billions of dollars in potential penalties for the disaster.

As for Obama, the same president who early in the BP crisis blasted the “scandalously close relationship” between oil companies and government regulators two years later ran for reelection boasting about how much new oil and gas development his administration had approved. Such collective amnesia may seem surprising, but there may be a good explanation for it: BP mounted a cover-up that concealed the full extent of its crimes from public view.

This cover-up prevented the media and therefore the public from knowing—and above all, seeing—just how much oil was gushing into the gulf. The disaster appeared much less extensive and destructive than it actually was. BP declined to comment for this article.

The financial implications are enormous. The trial now under way in New Orleans is wrestling with whether BP was guilty of “negligence” or “gross negligence” for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. If found guilty of “negligence,” BP would be fined, under the Clean Water Act, $1,100 for each barrel of oil that leaked.

But if found guilty of “gross negligence”—which a cover-up would seem to imply—BP would be fined $4,300 per barrel, almost four times as much, for a total of $17.5 billion. That large a fine, combined with an additional $34 billion that the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida are seeking, could have a powerful effect on BP’s economic health.

Yet the most astonishing thing about BP’s cover-up? It was carried out in plain sight, right in front of the world’s uncomprehending news media (including, I regret to say, this reporter).

I just wanted to do this article because for the most part it seems like this disaster has been forgotten about even though it is still damaging people and the environment. It's been 3 years and they are still arguing over who's fault it was and who should pay what money. Forget the money, it won't do anything to reverse the impact it's had on the environment, the wildlife, the people or the animals. :'(

Source

reply to post by sarahlm


theses are quite horriffic accounts, but the sad truth remains that we are all responsible for this. our demands for convenient acquisition of global products, plastics (etc), petrofuels, percieved cheapness of purchases and the ability to recklessly waste resources has done this, tacitly or otherwise.

reply to post by sarahlm

Thanks for the share... I know someone who will be very grateful to read this for the specific details of the exposure effects many suffered and are still suffering down there. If it makes you feel better? The media plays like this is ancient history and our Government would give anything to make it so ....but no one who matters has forgotten anything. BP's problems just multiplied by orders of magnitude in recent weeks. A deadline came and went ...and I'd say most who needed to make it, did.

HOUSTON (CN) - At least 10 Gulf Coast cities, including Houston, Galveston, South Padre Island and Sarasota, Fla., sued BP for sales taxes they lost to the giant oil spill, joining more than 2,000 plaintiffs who made the 3-year deadline for Oil Pollution Act complaints.

All 10 cities sued in federal courts. The Tampa Sports Authority also sued.

The April 20, 2010 explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and dumped more than 200 million gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston says in its complaint

Source

The site that is sourced from is very good about covering the BP lawsuits and the efforts to hold those criminals liable for what they've done to our Gulf. They've killed large parts of it and that's flat fact. It's just DEEP, so it's nice and easy to be like these guys:



BP isn't the only company who should have some execs rotting in the most rank prison we can find for the rest of their natural lives + 20 just to be sure. Indeed...there are a few companies that need that outcome for those who would poison entire environments and then walk away with the job far from complete.

S/F and thanks for sharing. This one is personal to me beyond what I can get into. Just... thanks.

Living down here,what you posted makes me wonder about my current state of health.At the time of the spill I had concerns of contamnation of the entire Gulf Coast,due to rain.The precipitation cycle in science class so long ago showed evaporation from seas,lakes,etc.Then cloud formation with a end result of rain or other precip.With that in mind I felt that we were at risk even if we weren't clean up workers.My memory is now crap,though my entire life people have marveled at my recall.

Great stuff...

Corexit has been banned for use on oil spills in the UK since 1988 Hmmmm....

Corexit 9527, considered by the EPA to be an acute health hazard, is stated by its manufacturer to be potentially harmful to red blood cells, the kidneys and the liver, and may irritate eyes and skin.

Like 9527, 9500 can cause hemolysis (rupture of blood cells) and may also cause internal bleeding. According to BP data, 20 percent of offshore workers had levels of 2-Butoxyethanol two times higher than the level certified as safe by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

According to a NALCO manual obtained by GAP, Corexit 9527 is an “eye and skin irritant. Repeated or excessive exposure ... may cause injury to red blood cells (hemolysis), kidney or the liver.” The manual adds: “Excessive exposure may cause central nervous system effects, nausea, vomiting, anesthetic or narcotic effects.” It advises, “Do not get in eyes, on skin, on clothing,” and “Wear suitable protective clothing.”

For Corexit 9500 the manual advised, “Do not get in eyes, on skin, on clothing,” “Avoid breathing vapor,” and “Wear suitable protective clothing.”

Neither the protective gear, nor the manual were distributed to Gulf oil spill cleanup workers, according to FOIA requests obtained by GAP.

en.wikipedia.org...

The world is full of lamposts for the likes of the CEOs and government cronies who make billions out of the suffering of the defenseless people.Time to decorate a few of these lamposts with them has arrived.....

Originally posted by skalla
reply to post by sarahlm

 

theses are quite horriffic accounts, but the sad truth remains that we are all responsible for this. our demands for convenient acquisition of global products, plastics (etc), petrofuels, percieved cheapness of purchases and the ability to recklessly waste resources has done this, tacitly or otherwise.

Funny enough, fuel is so expensive, and has been for decades) I have to keep a tight rein on all fuel expenses??

But let's get back to BP. BP knew they were being egregious continuing to drill deeper into that well, they were told it was unstable and only their arrogance, (which matches up well with their behaviour in the aftermath) made them continue. Who knows, maybe this was a deliberate ploy. Since 2010 the gulf stream has stalled because of the oil and dispersant mix, not all of it, but enough to effect our weather here in northern Europe drastically, our traditional westerlies have gone and since then we have in the main northerlies tracking down to us and coming in either from the west or the east or straight down from the north, it is fecking cold, even now and BP will be making a bomb whether they like it or not
You won't get many weathermen talking about the gulf stream, they will happily talk all day about the jet stream being a bit wonky though. What they don't say is that the gulf stream and jet stream are like Tom and Jerry they chase one another.

Excellent thread and I read the article in full a few days ago.
Let me say this that I am surrounded by refinery's where I live and by no means do I trust them.

They (Refinery's) pay excellent money to those whom work there but neglect the populace whenever possible.

I have an actual hard copy of the MSDS corexit sheet I obtained after the blow out and let me tell you it is as bad as you can imagine.


This crap should never have been used at all, but it saved the panic situation which would have happened when people started tripping on the beaches in the sticky mess that was sure to happen.

The end result is out of sight out of mind, All that oil is still there it is just sitting on the bottom of the Ocean at this moment.

Beauty of a thread.

S&F
Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by skalla
reply to post by sarahlm

 

theses are quite horriffic accounts, but the sad truth remains that we are all responsible for this. our demands for convenient acquisition of global products, plastics (etc), petrofuels, percieved cheapness of purchases and the ability to recklessly waste resources has done this, tacitly or otherwise.

I agree plastic is a great thing, especially for medicine....

Although, we are not the ones silencing energy alternatives nor do we ask to have everything overpacked and we are certainly not responsible for companies creating products that are made to break in 3 years. We are not the ones creating products that we know will be obsolete while more advanced products are kept away for future profits.

It's the un-surmountable greed and madness of profits over sustainability that is to blame.

Seriously, we should at least stop burning that precious oil, at least most plastics are recyclable and do in fact enhance positively a lot of aspects of modern life.

It's so irritating how split people are about this. Many buy into BP's white wash spin on the Corexit. So many people I know still live and recreate in the Gulf region like nothing ever happened. My relatives included.

I won't.

But they think I'm a loon for being so concerned about it. It's so frustrating.

I fear that a decade from now, there will be a flood of really sick people.

Something like this only goes to show one thing, "there is no justice in the world"!
I only hope that God will judge these culpable individuals because we have failed too.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
It's so irritating how split people are about this. Many buy into BP's white wash spin on the Corexit. So many people I know still live and recreate in the Gulf region like nothing ever happened. My relatives included.

I won't.

But they think I'm a loon for being so concerned about it. It's so frustrating.

I fear that a decade from now, there will be a flood of really sick people.

And no amount of money awarded to any of them is going to change that.

$50 Billion might at well be $0.05 cents

Penny for your thoughts?...errrr... I mean mysterious fatal condition caused by a massively toxic substance we convinced you was safe?

The penalty for all that... is a fine ?

Those directly responsible for this disaster should be brought before a firing squad and put to death on live TV.

THAT is justice.

Thanks for the post and the "reminder" but I had not forgotten about the GOM or Fukushima for that matter because I and those who I speak with knew from the start that the death from these disasters would follow down the road as they are a cancerous form of decay. We were all lied to back then, now and will be lied to in the future. Someday, when people realise how bad it is getting they will start to rise up, and if my guess is right, they will get to "Shelter In Place" until it is over.

The shame is that if they had just believed the data and system then the disaster would not have happened. This needs to be a case where the accident payoff is very much more costly then the saving they attempted to gain. A very big lesson.

Originally posted by smurfy

But let's get back to BP. BP knew they were being egregious continuing to drill deeper into that well, they were told it was unstable and only their arrogance, (which matches up well with their behaviour in the aftermath) made them continue. Who knows, maybe this was a deliberate ploy. Since 2010 the gulf stream has stalled because of the oil and dispersant mix, not all of it, but enough to effect our weather here in northern Europe drastically, our traditional westerlies have gone and since then we have in the main northerlies tracking down to us and coming in either from the west or the east or straight down from the north, it is fecking cold, even now and BP will be making a bomb whether they like it or not

You won't get many weathermen talking about the gulf stream, they will happily talk all day about the jet stream being a bit wonky though. What they don't say is that the gulf stream and jet stream are like Tom and Jerry they chase one another.

edit on 29-4-2013 by smurfy because: Text.

Ironically, if the feds allowed drilling closer into shore, this wouldnt have happened. In shallow water it is easier to control the process and also easier to contain a spill as well as easier to stop a spill and then clean it up. Our federal govt is at least as culpable as BP.

reply to post by sarahlm


Does she know what happens when bleach reacts w an acidic compound... I'll tell you that some side-effects include coughing up blood, if its a high enough concentration of chlorine gas.
Source..... I work with swimming pools

Edit... I'm not saying it IS chlor. Gas and chemical burn that afflicted this poor woman.... But should be considered none the less

Great thread OP. I really hope that very soon BP are forced to pay out to all the people that have been affected by this and are also forced to clean up properly the disaster they have made.

a-holes!!

What amazed me is how easy people have forgotten about all of this. I have a BP service station 2 mins from my house (in Sydney) and I thought to myself "I hope that people stop using these BP stations because of what's happened". Of course, much to my complete surprise - it didn't change at all.

It just blows me away. It seems people are so apathetic that they couldn't care unless it affects them directly and badly. I refuse to buy petrol from BP even though it is extremely convenient. It's not the fault of the people who run these service stations as i'm guessing they just are franchisee's but still...I would never own a petrol station for many reasons.

Originally posted by Cruff
Great thread OP. I really hope that very soon BP are forced to pay out to all the people that have been affected by this and are also forced to clean up properly the disaster they have made.

a-holes!!

What amazed me is how easy people have forgotten about all of this. I have a BP service station 2 mins from my house (in Sydney) and I thought to myself "I hope that people stop using these BP stations because of what's happened". Of course, much to my complete surprise - it didn't change at all.

It just blows me away. It seems people are so apathetic that they couldn't care unless it affects them directly and badly. I refuse to buy petrol from BP even though it is extremely convenient. It's not the fault of the people who run these service stations as i'm guessing they just are franchisee's but still...I would never own a petrol station for many reasons.

its actually the same here where I am in the states. I myself have boycotted bp and well never use anything from them.

Many of her symptoms could be due to her weight. the tingly feelings, head aches and other ailments are things that can happen to you with the onset of diabetes. Even the way she is out of it can be explained by that... it can put you in a complete stupor.

she seems to get worked up easily... I work with an overweight woman who pukes and has dairreah every time she has to work a weekend alone because she gets so worked up about it. in this video you can see how agitated she gets.. I would not be surprised if she worries her self sick.



I think there are health consequences for the oil spill.. but i would take this account with a grain of salt.

And what of TransOcean, the American company actually responsible for the spill?

Oh that's right, not only has attention and blame been completely deflected from it by the US Government, the people of the US are no longer aware of its existence.