BP Gulf Oil Spill: The Slow-Motion Public Health Disaster Continues
‘The Black Wave’ Continues To Sicken Gulf Coast Communities 6 Years After The Spill
Thick black waves of oil and brown whitecaps are seen off the side of the supply vessel Joe Griffin at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
SOTN Editor’s Note:
One of the editors of SOTN was intimately involved with the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Cyber-conference. There was no aspect of the Gulf spill that escaped our attention. The pervasive public health repercussions and profound environmental impacts were especially very high on our radar screen.
The pivotal moment in the evolution of this global advocacy occurred in February of 2011. A series of interviews was undertaken in which one specific point was raised time and again. That point concerned the veritable lockdown on information whenever it concerned the true health consequences and medical conditions which were directly associated with the oil spill.
Shortly after these interviews, there were a number of articles disseminated on the Internet which were essentially hit pieces on those of us who were making this vital connection. Those hit pieces were both vicious and vile and designed only to destroy the largest citizens advocacy group regarding the BP spill at that time. The Oil & Gas Industry knew that if the true health ramifications got out, both BP and the U.S. Government would be vulnerable to massive legal risks and financial liabilities for decades to come.
Now it’s very important to understand just who those citizen advocates were. The were residents of the GOM (Gulf of Mexico) coastal communities who suffered the greatest harm and injury from the disaster. They freely volunteered their time, their energy, their money and other resources in the interest of properly remediating the oil spill. In return many of them received nothing but loss and grief. Not only did their own government fight them every step of the way, the petroleum industry employed so-called journalists to write false articles that would forever tarnish their reputations. Some of them were ruined financially; others were overwhelmed by medical ailments due to the ever-present oil and gas pollution, as well as the poisoning via the clandestine spraying of Corexit.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The critical point that was made during those various interviews is that BP and the U.S. Federal Government systematically conspired to falsify crucial data and misrepresent critical information coming from the Gulf. Not only did they grossly under-report the actual amount of hydrocarbon effluent (oil and gas) which leaked into the GOM, the same co-conspirators failed to acknowledged publicly the massive amount of Corexit that was used to disappear the oil. Furthermore, by improperly remediating the leaked petroleum, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard greatly exacerbated the adverse health effects and environmental impacts of the spill. In so doing they set up the entire Gulf coastline for a slow motion environmental catastrophe and public health disaster which continues to this day (also known as the Black Wave).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
With this understanding the reader will more deeply appreciate what is presented in the following two videos. Each provides a different, yet very important, perspective on the true legacy of BP’s unprosecuted crime(s) against America perpetrated in April of 2010. Recently a judge awarded damages to the USA in the amount of $20 billion in order to bring closure to this sordid and oily affair. Were the actual financial costs and legal liabilities to be properly compensated, the final bill to BP might approach $200 billion, or even $2 trillion, when all the medical bills are added up. Now the reader knows why BP was so willing to accept their $20 billion bill and run and not make any more ‘waves’. What most Americans will never know is that even the 20 bil is subsidized by THEM! As follows:
In BP’s Final $20 Billion Gulf Settlement, U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize $15.3 Billion
State of the Nation
April 8, 2016
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rising:
Connecting Human Health and Oil Operations
“Are extreme oil operations making us sick? In a fight for basic human rights, ordinary people are rising to extraordinary circumstances struggle with the consequences of a grave and hidden threat to the American public.”
The Rising: Connecting Human Health and Oil Operations from ConceptionMedia on Vimeo.
2nd Wind Project, Trisha Springstead
[youtube_sc url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXQWbXRBVc&w=560&h=315]