ITP EDITORIAL: BP GULF OIL SPILL

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/opinion/03krugman.html
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/104157
http://www.dec.ny.gov/environmentdec/47159.html
ICELAND must be laughing at the USA, BP and the UK now. Every time a volcano erupts in ICELAND, the magma is used for years of energy, and that volcano 4/15/2010 was awesome. http://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2010/04/itp-apocalypse-4152010-icelandic.html
If anyone is concerned about the GULF OIL SPILL, I would recommend you check out this documentary by Joe Berlinger (producer/ director of the METALLICA's "Some Kind of Monster", Paradise Lost: "The Robin Hood Hills Murders", and "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations") entitled "CRUDE: THE PRICE OF OIL": http://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2009/09/metal-at-movies-part-12-crude-movie.html as the documentary is about the oil spills and subsequent contamination in the Amazon. Also, many in all walks of life are boycotting BP OIL, and hoping for a clean up as we HOPE this oil spill doesn't contaminate the water down south, and cause long term health defects for the citizens at large. All of at ITP hope BP Oil gets sued for millions. ITP suggestion: I love seafood, but Americans should not eat fish for a while, because the Gulf Coast was contaminated with BP's oil spill and negligence, there fore contaminating the fish industry.
BTW, regarding the Amazon vs. Texaco/Chevron, the Amazon natives are appealing the case, and a verdict should be announced soon.

FROM THE NYTIMES:


WASHINGTON — The chief executives of the world’s largest oil companies faced a Congressional panel of inquisitors on Tuesday and tried to cast the BP spill as a rare event that their companies were not likely to repeat.
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In their prepared remarks, the executives said that continued offshore exploration and drilling were essential to American oil and gas supplies and to the health of their industry.

In a moment of Capitol Hill drama reminiscent of the grilling of tobacco industry executives in 1994, the oil company officials were summoned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to justify offshore drilling and explain how their safety practices differed from BP’s.

Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of Exxon Mobil, said in prepared testimony that if companies follow proper well design, drilling, maintenance and training procedures accidents like Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 “should not occur,” implying that BP had failed to do so.

John S. Watson, chief executive of Chevron, also pointed an implicit finger at BP, saying that every Chevron employee and contractor has the authority to stop work immediately if they see anything unsafe. Congressional investigators charge that BP went ahead with risky procedures even after repeated warnings from company workers and contract employees on the ill-fated rig.

“Our internal review confirmed what our regular audits have told us,” Mr. Watson said in his prepared remarks. “Chevron’s deepwater drilling and well control practices are safe and environmentally sound.”

The panel is also scheduled to hear from Lamar McKay, the president of BP America, as well as from executives of Shell and Conoco Phillips.

The executives appeared before the energy and environment subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts. He planned to question the oil company representatives not only about safety procedures but about emergency planning, the use of dispersants and differences in regulations in other countries.

Representative Henry A. Waxman, chairman of the House committee, focused on the spill response plans of the five companies. They were prepared by an outside contractor and are virtually identical, Mr. Waxman said.

Each of the plans addresses a worst-case spill. BP’s plan says it can handled a spill of 250,000 barrels a day; Chevron and Shell say they can handle 200,000 barrels a day. The current estimate for the BP spill is about 30,000 barrels a day, and it is clear that the company’s plan was not adequate to deal with it.

Mr. Waxman said it is clear that the plans are "just paper exercises."

"BP failed miserably when confronted with a real leak," Mr. Waxman said, "and Exxon Mobil and the other companies would do no better."

Mr. Markey prepared a series of questions about industry spending on research and alternative energy, and plans to expand offshore operations to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts.

“Now the other companies here today will contend that this was an isolated incident. They will say a similar disaster could never happen to them,” Mr. Markey said as the hearing opened. “And yet it is this kind of Blind Faith — which is ironically the name of an actual rig in the Gulf — that has led to this kind of disaster.”

Mr. Markey added: “In preparation for this hearing, the committee reviewed the oil spill safety response plans for all of the companies here today. What we found was that these five companies have response plans that are virtually identical. The plans cite identical response capabilities and tout identical ineffective equipment. In some cases, they use the exact same words. We found that all of these companies, not just BP, made the exact same assurances.”

Like BP, Mr. Markey said, three other companies include references to protecting walruses, which have not called the Gulf of Mexico home for three million years.

“Two other plans are such dead ringers for BP’s that they list a phone number for the same long-dead expert,” he said.

Mr. McKay, of BP America, issued a plea for forbearance from Congressional and executive branch officials, saying in his prepared remarks, “America’s economy, security and standard of living today significantly depend upon domestic oil and gas production. Reducing our energy production, absent a concurrent reduction in consumption, would shift additional jobs and dollars offshore and place millions of additional barrels per day into tanker ships that must traverse the world’s oceans.”
FROM EYEHATEGOD:
Mader: Fuck BP. Straight up. The problem with all these big fuckin' companies is that they never forget to squash the little guy. And that's what happening right now. There's all these coastal cities in Louisiana where people have fished for generations upon generations, and that's all that they know. And for somebody's big fuckup like this, and to be so nonchalant and lazy about fixing it, it blows your mind. We thought we'd seen it all with Katrina. But this is a whole 'nother fashion of indifference toward all these people who can't help themselves. It makes you angry. I come from New Orleans, but I come from a family where fishing has always been high on the priority list. Not on an industrial level — but in New Orleans, seafood is something that's very close to our heart. And to see somebody come along and stamp all that out over a mishap is amazing. It makes you wonder why don't we just secede from the United States.

St. Louis Riverfront Times: Is that a common sentiment in the area?

Mader: There's a lot of anger. People that usually don't give a shit about politics are up in arms, because it touches our culture and has a big effect. There's seafood restaurants. And aside from the seafood fishermen that are gonna be affected, it affects tourism and affects the progress of out city. We were doin' good coming back from Katrina. And for this to happen, it's like, what's next? And where's it going to end? The really sad part is that they're recruiting all these fishermen to help for the cleanup. We have a large Vietnamese fishing population in Louisiana. And what they're doing is having these guys that can't read or speak English sign these waivers when they sign up for the cleanup that nullifies any lawsuit towards BP. It's ridiculous. As if these guys don't have enough problems already.
FROM KORN:
Motivated by the BP disaster and its devastating effects, heavy rock outfit KORN, which has sold more than 30 million records worldwide, takes a stand by launching a boycott against using the company's gasoline while on tour this summer. The band has formally announced that it will not be fueling any of its touring vehicles with BP products and is strongly encouraging other touring artists to do the same.

"The daily images are hard to watch," says KORN frontman Jonathan Davis. "We need to do our part to let BP know there are consequences for causing something like this. We want to send a message to corporations like BP so that they will take more preventative measures in the future. The more costly their punishment, the more money they will spend to make sure disasters like this don't happen again. It's plain and simple capitalism."

In a timely coincidence of life imitating art, KORN's new album artwork, photography and stage set imagery reference the band's hometown area near Bakersfield, California and its bleak landscape littered with oil rigs. The video for the first single "Oildale (Leave Me Alone)" reveals a poverty-stricken area situated among the rich oil fields and tells a story of a young boy's desire to escape. The video story echoes the band's own struggle out of Bakersfield. Davis adds, "It was one thing for us to grow up near such poverty. But the situation in the Gulf takes things to a whole new level where people's lives and livelihoods are affected forever."
FROM PHIL ANSELMO (DOWN, SUPERJOINT RITUAL):
Metal Insider: The last thing I want to ask you is about New Orleans. How is it down there?

Anselmo: Well, it's about to be fucking down the shitter again with this fucking oil spill. It's not just New Orleans. I have to hand it to the whole Gulf Coast once again. But this time it's man-made. With Katrina, the city still isn't 100% after that. That's out of my hands right this second. The point being, this oil spill looks to be a whole lot worse, really, in the long run because of the industry — the fishing industry, the seafood industry — the country counts on for fucking real seafood instead of China's imported seafood. You know, we're fucked. A manmade disaster. When they tell you — and they being the government or some high ranking official that has no fucking business dealing with someone like us — I mean, I can't talk for you, but I'm not a suit and tie guy, you know. I'm not. I don't get you. If you're up there talking with all of this fantastic vocabulary and then this fucking goddamn big suit and shit like that you are not relating to me or my fucking people. You're on the other side of the fucking fence. So when one stupid motherfucker like that tells a body of people there's no way that this particular oil drilling situation can fuck up, it's a fucking lie. What's gonna happen when the earth shifts? What's gonna happen when the tide comes and another Katrina happens and it went through and barreled through the fucking goddamn pipeline that's a mile deep into the earth? They're liars. It was dug, therefore it was motherfucking bound for a fuckup. Nothing lasts forever. I didn't make that saying up, but whoever fucking said it first, they are right. This is a man-made fuckup and man will have to fucking deal with it. Like with Detroit, when the auto industry fucking went under and all the jobs were fucking lost and shit like that. Dude, it's gonna be like that here. What's the president gonna do but sit up in his house? Not a motherfucking thing.
FROM SIX FEET UNDER:
"Didn't 'we' all think this 'President' was supposed to be more aware and was going to do more to rebuild our great country, and help pull us all out of the hole we are in? Looks like he's putting us all in a bigger hole by not taking action and doing something about stopping the oil leak that is destroying the Gulf Of Mexico and destroying our country.

"Please, if you drive... boycott the fuck out of BP [British Petroleum]! Do not buy their fuel. They can stop the oil leak. They are a greedy, evil company that doesn't care about any of us, or this planet. We can do something by taking money out of their pocket, by not buying their product.

"BP is killing the Gulf Coast states, killing our environment, killing this country. This is an act of terrorism.

"Obama does not stand behind this country, he stands behind oil, just like all the rest.

"Boycott BP oil.
FROM BUCKCHERRY:
"As musicians who have the benefit of the spotlight from time to time, we feel it is our duty to aid in raising awareness and financial support to help remedy the awful situation in the Gulf Of Mexico. It is so important that each and every one of us do what we can to help those out whose lives have been harshly impacted by the oil spill."
FROM OTEP (OTEP SHAMAYA):

My friends,
I find myself deep in the rolling green of the beautiful Southern territory of flavorful Fayetteville , Arkansas . The hills are rich with a monochrome flora and the arching landscape is crested by a silky blue sky brimming with billowing clouds moving slowly overhead like an enormous ghost armada returning victorious from war.
The heat is thick and sweltering. It is a strange and wondrous sensory experience.
I see all this and am amazed how anyone could live surrounded by such beauty but care so very little about maintaining it.
I wonder if future generations will ever believe days like this actually existed or will they assume that these are just the words of a demented mind twisted with fantasy or folklore? Perhaps they will lament on the rugged Eden that their ancestors took for granted and squandered in the heavy stink of apathy and inaction?
I remember my home, beautiful Los Angeles , and how sad it is that we do not have skies like those over Arkansas . Our sun rides high above a nicotine-stain of a haze hacked up from the millions of cars belching their lower-regulated exhaust into our atmosphere.
I remember the live webcam of the BP oil spill currently vomiting millions of gallons of crude into our ocean, killing wildlife, poisoning our water, and ultimately us.
If we do nothing, we are consenting to the murder of our planet and condemning future generations to endure a reality far worse than the one we were left by those who failed us generations before.
How many more brave American soldiers must be sent far from home, to kill, to fight, to be injured, to die (or see their friends die) in senseless wars for oil? (Much love & respect to the US Armed Forces.)
How many more innocent animals must perish, confused, suffocating and choking in stinky goo, due to our selfish inaction and apathy?
How many more American dollars will WE allow be sent to fund Iranian nuclear capabilities or the Saudis and ultimately al-queda?
What else needs to happen for us to demand a LEGITIMATE clean energy policy to purge this parasite of petroleum from our national skin?
I realize this will not be an immediate fix. There will be no mass exodus from fossil fuels. Our infrastructure is too dependent on it. Like any junkie, we must be weaned slowly from our petroleum addiction.
It might be a little painful, sure, but Americans are made from hard stock. We braved the rocks and jagged edges of pioneering the wilderness of a new country and we can do it again.
But it only works if we do it together and (this time) do it RIGHT. Clean Energy and Alternative Energy sources will create AMERICAN jobs. Solar, Wind, Hemp, Algae, Ethanol, Natural Gas, et cetera, et cetera will empower and fortify our workforce. Not just financially, but intellectually, and it helps secure the health and beauty of our only home – planet Earth.
Let us reclaim our pioneering spirit:
“If not us, who. If not now, when?”
In art,
Otep Shamaya
METAL/MUSIC/TOURING INDUSTRY BOYCOTT ON BP OIL FROM BLABBERMOUTH.NET:
KORN's boycott of BP has started a ground swell of like-minded musicians intent on making a statement against the devastation in The Gulf caused by BP's record-setting oil spill. The following top touring artists have joined the cause and have committed to avoid the use of fuel sold by BP or its affiliates on their upcoming tours for 2010:

* DISTURBED
* LADY GAGA
* RISE AGAINST
* GODSMACK
* BACKSTREET BOYS
* Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival
* SLIGHTLY STOOPID
* ROB ZOMBIE
* MEGADETH
* BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
* ANTHRAX
* CREED
* FILTER
* HELLYEAH
* FLOGGING MOLLY

"This is the worst thing that has ever happened to the environment in U.S. history. From everything we're hearing about now, it's become clear that BP cut corners to put profit ahead of safety. The message we are sending should tell all the oil companies to spend the money and take the necessary precautions to make sure this doesn't happen again," said Jonathon Davis of KORN. "I'm really proud that this many artists have already come on board, and I hope more will join soon."

First estimates show close to 100 vehicles, trucks and buses from the committed artists will be involved in the boycott this summer. The number is continuously growing, resulting in tours all across North America refusing to fill up with BP products. More touring artists and people throughout the continent are uniting in boycotts against BP as a result of the catastrophic oil spill.

Some summer festival tours like the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival are already known for using biofuels. However, the entire festival, comprised of twelve bands, will promise to not purchase their biofuels from BP or any of their affiliates. Tour creator Kevin Lyman agrees, stating "We have so many friends that are now affected by this spill that unless BP spends whatever is needed their livelihoods are lost forever. To that end we are encouraging everyone we deal with to find alternative ways to get down the road this summer."
FROM SOILWORK:“We’re outraged about BP’s obvious profit-over-safety policy leading to this terrible disaster and their extremely poor handling of the oil spill,” commented the band.”In joining the boycott and calling all our fans to do the same, we can collectively make a statement strong enough to bring this shameless, careless corporation to its knees, and to avoid such catastrophes in the future.”
FROM DAVID DRAIMAN (DISTURBED):"I have a significant one," he replied. "I think it is an embarrassment and it is unforgivable. We should have sent every available resource the minute it occurred, but watchdog organizations are in bed with these people and nothing is done. I think that it is ridiculous that we didn't accept aid from the Saudis right away; the freighters they have, and have used, with suction capabilities?"

He continued, "We left it to BP, who did not take accurate measurements of oil and who lied all along. All they are concerned about is diverting and saving the constantly leaking orifice instead of damming it up and losing the oil. They aren't worried about saving an ecosystem and way of life of fisherman along the Gulf Coast."

Draiman also deemed the White House's reaction to the BP spill as "tantamount to how Bush handled Katrina. It gets worse every day. The marine life is hardest hit, since they have to come to the surface to breathe and instead take in the toxins. I am beyond disgusted with the situation. I have followed it like a madman. It's unforgivable."
FROM RICHARD PATRICK (FILTER):"It's an absolute atrocity, a crime against the planet," Patrick told Noisecreep. "People are volunteering, but I don't think anyone should.""It's their fault, and they should pay for it," Patrick said. "I don't care if it bankrupts the company. If you do it, be safe or pay up. If you learn to drill oil wells, you need to drill relief wells on either side." Patrick also mused, "How many more ways can we f--- up this planet? I am starting to think we can really destroy the earth, with two wars and pollution." "If you go all the way back to Nixon, they've been talking about getting off oil," he said. "We are an amazing species, but we are greedy. We want fast cars, a huge house for only four people. There are mansions everywhere. None of them run on solar power, so why not retrofit the house? The guys that run major oil companies have the money to do that. It is horrible and keeps on getting worse. 11 men died. Don't forget that. It was the oil rig guys who said, 'Do you really want to cut these corners on this stuff?' and BP execs said, 'Yes, this is our procedure.'"

FROM BP:Mr. McKay, of BP America, issued a plea for forbearance from Congressional and executive branch officials, saying in his prepared remarks, “America’s economy, security and standard of living today significantly depend upon domestic oil and gas production. Reducing our energy production, absent a concurrent reduction in consumption, would shift additional jobs and dollars offshore and place millions of additional barrels per day into tanker ships that must traverse the world’s oceans.” ITP EDITORS NOTE: BULLSHIT. Why should America be so dependent upon OIL as a resource for energy when there are cheaper, and better alternatives to energy. Hydro energy, vegetable oil are alternative forms of energy. Of course that would put major oil monopolies out of business in this upgrade in technology and BP with it's spills and negligence would not be profitable and may cease to exist, lol. This debate is similar to the debate regarding mp3 and digital technology vs. CD. In fact, the USA's oil resources only come from TEXAS and ALASKA domestically, I can't understand why someone would think New York has oil. The vast majority of the USA's oil resources come from the Middle East, there fore the conflicts in that region. BTW, MANY HAILS TO ICELAND FOR CONVERTING FROM OIL/ELECTRIC TO HYDRO (WATER) ENERGY WAKE UP AMERICA: FROM Jandre680 YOU TUBE: FROM JOURNEYMAN PICTURES ICELAND's HYDROGEN ECONOMY: FROM ICELANDIC TRADE DIRECTORY:
Energy in Iceland

Energy in IcelandIceland is the only country in Western Europe that still has large resources of competitively priced hydroelectric power and geothermal energy remaining to be harnessed. Although electricity consumption per capita in Iceland is second to none in the world, at about 28,200 kWh per person, only a fraction of the country’s energy potential has been tapped. Total economically viable electric power potential is now estimated at 50,000 GWh/year. About 8,490 GWh/year of this power had been harnessed in 2003, i.e. only about 17% of the total electrical energy potential.

Competitively priced electricity has already attracted foreign investors to Iceland in fields such as production of aluminium and ferro-silicon. Export-orientated power-intensive industries now consume more than half the country’s electricity production.

Hydropower in Iceland
Hydropower in IcelandEconomically harness able electricity from hydro resources is estimated at about 30,000 GWh per year. The first hydropower plant was constructed in 1904, generating 9kW. In 2003, the total installed hydropower is 1,155 MW and the hydropower production was around 7,100 GWh. The largest single hydropower plant has a production power capacity of 270 MW.

Geothermal energy in Iceland
Geothermal energy in IcelandIcelanders are world leaders in the use of geothermal energy for domestic and industrial purposes. About 87% of the population enjoy central heating by geothermal energy at a price that is generally less than half of the comparable cost of oil or electric heating, thus contributing to making Iceland one of the cleanest environments in Europe. Geothermal steam has been used directly for a number of industrial processing applications in Iceland for decades now, and has also been developed for electricity generation on a small but growing scale. In 2003 the total installed geothermal electric power was 200 MW and the production around 1,420 GWh.

Icelandic Power without pollution
Iceland's Power without PollutionBoth hydro and geothermal power are sustainable and supremely environment-friendly – “green” resources which are free from the atmospheric emissions of fossil fuels and the potential hazards of radioactive power sources. In the case of aluminium production, using electricity generated by hydropower instead of coal will typically cut total emissions of CO2 by about 90% per ton of production. A recent venture backed by Daimler-Chrysler, Norsk Hydro and Shell has located one of the world’s first pilot projects for developing infrastructure of a hydrogen-driven transport system in Iceland, using hydropower to make an emission-free petrol substitute, sometimes called “the energy source of the future”.
FROM E ZINE:


It seems to me that hydropower is one of those renewable energies on the fringe of those energy sources considered green, i.e. having minimal impact on the environment. Humans have been harnessing water power in one form or another for centuries. But let's face it our sheer numbers and technological advancements are crowding out nature with deleterious effects. Here in America, many hydropower projects are quite controversial, especially for people who love the outdoors and like to enjoy nature in its undisturbed form. I can certainly relate.

In my opinion, Iceland may be a unique case in this regard. With only 300,000 inhabitants in a country approximately the size of Kentucky, open wilderness is not a pressing issue. I know first hand. Once you leave the capital city of Reykjavik, there are few other cities of any notable size and lots of open spaces in between. In fact, the interior of Iceland is almost entirely uninhabited and probably never will be.

Iceland is a country blessed with a massive abundance of renewable energy, especially hydropower and geothermal. And, Icelanders have been utilizing hydropower for over a century now. Many of the countries hydroelectric plants are relatively small scale producing between 28 - 270 MW. Compare that with a massive plant like the Hoover dam power plant which produces over 2000 MW. But recently, a very controversial power plant was completed which sparked a lot of controversy and reignited the environmental debate in Iceland, especially hydropower. That project was the Kárahnjúka hydroelectric power plant (690 MW), completed in 2007, which was built to supply electricity to the new Alcoa Fjaardal Aluminum Smelter in East Iceland. This plant was built in the highlands of Iceland and flooded a large area of pristine wilderness including a long, deep canyon.

Those opposed felt that the government was selling Iceland's pristine nature to outside entities for little real economic gain for the masses. On the other side of the argument were those who were looking to monetize one of Iceland's few natural resources to grow the economy in the face of dwindling fish stocks, once Iceland's chief source of foreign currency. Let's face it, every other country is doing so. Whether that natural resource is oil or natural gas or coal or timber or agricultural land. But Iceland has none of those assets.

Therein lies the dilemma. Can Iceland survive as a pristine toursist destination, thriving on tourism and the related service industries? Or should it capitalize on its abundant hydropower and geothermal power potential, selling energy to power intensive industries like aluminum smelters and the like? The answer may be somewhere in between. If handled properly, this tiny island nation could very well steer itself through the choppy waters of industrial growth in a way that few other countries have. And, in that sense may end up being a model for other nations. Time will tell. But there is evidence that the government of Iceland is trying to strike this balance with plans to develop hydrogen to fuel its cars, trucks and fishing boats and strict environmental regulations. I am not saying that Iceland is perfect and that they have all these issues handled. But, because this nation is a relative newcomer to industrialization, coupled with small population numbers and a remote location, they may be able to learn from the disastrous mistakes that other nations have made and come out in better shape.

Iceland's long history with hydroelectric power has produced many skilled hydropower consultants who have helped steer the country's renewable energy development for decades

Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal- \m/ -l-