The Effects Of Our Toxic Environmental Bio-Terrain On Life

By TRISHA SPRINGSTEAD | THE REAL AGENDA | MARCH 30, 2013

On April 20th, 2010, the largest man-made disaster in the history of the United States of America blasted the Gulf of Mexico. The Explosion of the Deep Water Horizon murdered 11 men and injured 17 more. This was not just your ordinary spill.

Despite all warnings to upper level management, BP did not listen and told these men to move forward and keep drilling, as the company was losing money with each passing day. The deaths of these men, with brothers, sisters, mothers, wives and children, were homicides. The crime scene spewed out poison of unprecedented proportions while the powers that be sprayed toxic chemicals in order to cover up the crime.

The men that died or were disabled from the Macondo blowout should be treated as war heroes, since the fate of these men is the same one soldiers face. These men were put in harm’s way by corporate and government decisions over “wars that are fought in places where their business interest runs.” [1]

The families of the brave men who died have not received any compensation from the perpetrators of this crime. Unfortunately, the death and injury has not been limited to the original victims. It is an ongoing tragedy that continues to expand in scope, affecting the health and the lives of millions more.

When the well exploded, I was researching a disease pandemic some call Morgellons. [2] This is not the name for this disease now. It is clearly Hyper-Toxicity, Degradation of the Bio-Terrain [3], Neurocutaneous Syndrome [4], and recently has surfaced as the BP Oil Gulf Plague [5].

Before I submit the evidence from this crime scene, I want to give you a heads-up on what I had been working on for years here in the Southern United States. I find it interesting that, in early 2006, I began pulling strange PCBs, fibers and other organisms out of the skin of humans and was just astounded. I wanted to know what this new disease was. I called an old professor of mine, as these samples I was viewing looked almost shrimp-like. He had never heard of this. His advice was to call the Department of Marine Biology in Washington, DC.

I was excited and very curious, and the next morning I dialed a phone number. In my enthusiasm at finding something that was so interesting, I began telling my story to the man who picked up the phone in D.C. He listened very intently. Then these words, that I shall never forget and in retrospect haunt me.

“Lady,” he said, “if you know anything about this disease, you start screaming and you keep screaming, because if you don’t and something happens to you, you will be missed.” He went on to say, “You have not reached the Department of Marine Biology. You have reached the Department of Geology. I want you to stay away from this god-forsaken town (D.C.). I have 3 years left in this hell-hole before I retire, so you scream – and don’t stop.” I began screaming like a wild woman then and heeding his advice, will not be silenced now.

I do not believe in accidents any more. This Scientist knew something, and he knew I was on to something. Could it be that this was a warning sign of things to come, and this honest Geologist knew something and had seen evidence of what I was relating?

The answers to these questions may never be forthcoming, but the Universe reveals things to us when we need to look at them. It is a shame that more scientists are not curious about the human condition, because people continue to be polluted by food [6], water [7], environment [8] and man’s greed to tear apart and alter the perfection of Mother Earth’s gifts.

Marine Toxicologist Dr. Riki Ott [9] helped countless individuals while fighting valiantly for the people of Alaska in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez spill. She could have earned $250,000 a year in the employ of various companies, but instead choose to assist people and wildlife.

Dr. Ott worked diligently over years on books and documentaries which illustrate her knowledge and concerns. She duly warned us of the treatment that was inflicted upon the people by the Exxon Valdez spill. Now she has taken her time and her dime to come to the Gulf Region and educate people up and down the coastlines of our precious Gulf of Mexico.

It is the nature of an ignorant man to say, “Oh, this is just a little spill. We will just cover it up with a little poison and a few pesticides that won’t hurt anyone, and a few Genetically Modified Nematodes won’t hurt anyone, either.” On top of that tanker spill in Alaska, Exxon dumped Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) called Pseudomonas Putida. [10]

After meeting Dr. Ott, I discovered that thousands were reporting symptoms of rashes, brain fog, neurological problems, crawling and biting and itching to Dr Ott’s group. The average life expectancy in Alaska where that spill occurred is 51 years, and that was just a tanker, mind you. The people were told by Exxon, “Oh don’t worry, we’ll take care of you and ‘NOT ONE DROP’ will be found when we are done.”

Exxon took good care of them all right – their way of life was almost destroyed. The divorce, alcoholism, suicide and a literal wedge that was driven between the people proved disastrous. That spill decimated the way of life for those people, their culture and their world. The one hope, though, is that the humans who live on in that region of Alaska are praying for us as we face eerily similar circumstances.

They were never fully nor even partially compensated for the havoc and hell that Exxon put them through. I highly recommend that you read Dr. Ott’s book, Not One Drop. Read this book and read it well, because history has repeated itself. [11] But there is a kicker here, and an elephant in the living rooms of this whole Gulf Region and indeed, the world.

The draconian powers-that-be sprayed Corexit (which is outlawed in many other countries, including England) and other organisms on that spill. They continue to spray even now on the waters of the Gulf and the East Coast of Florida by night. The amounts of poisons that were spewed into our precious air and water, and what is being added in a misguided attempt to rectify it, are not just chemicals but a very, very toxic soup.

They do not give a damn about the impact on the people who worked hard every day. The honest fishermen won’t sell you dirty fish. [12]
They are not lazy, they know it is poison. The world is unfortunately filled with smoke and mirrors. “Oh, a few dead here and a few spilling blood there and a few Cajuns whose life is tied to the sea won’t be missed.”

When BP, Halliburton and the money-grubbing corporations say they are going to take care of you, you better find a lawyer and a good friend, because they will not. History repeating, these beautiful souls are sick. They have rashes, brain fog, lesions, and families with no food. Suffering themselves, they refuse to compromise by going out and fishing to sell poison to you and your families.

The health and human impact of this spill is already driving wedges through the social fabric of society all along the coast. The depression deepens with each passing day, the alcoholism rates will skyrocket, the suicides will escalate and fighting among brothers will increase. [13] The sociological ramifications are already heightened between people.

Proud people have no work unless it is to work for the perceived enemy. This is just what BP and the Corporate Dynasties like to see. BP wants people so worn down that they have no fight in them, no air to breathe to yell, no doctors to treat these people who are ill. If we open clinics and treat these people that BP and Nalco poisoned, these people who are sick and dying, then the poisoners will have to take some responsibility, admitting that they made the wrong choices and caused HARM.

To the people who think they fooled us, I say, “We are not fooled by you liars.” To the people who are spraying Corexit and flying those planes of genocidal chemicals we say, “Find an Honest Job, because you are helping the devil do his deeds.” To the people who told us, “It’s gone – the spill has disappeared, there is just a little poison out there,” we say, “Dilution is not the solution to pollution.”

To the wealthy who did not want to see this wash up on their shores, so if not seen, it doesn’t exist, or the Universities taking billions to study this, I say, “TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DYING AND ARE GOING TO DIE. GO TO THEIR HOMES, THEIR SHORES AND THEIR ONCE-SACRED FISHING GROUNDS.” These people are the sidewalk scientists.

They have lived on the land for generations, and they know their terrain and the waters they love and respect. Get out of your institutions of delusion, your board rooms and legal money-laundering, ivy-covered ivory towers, and look at the full picture. If you lose the people, you have no stewards and in the end you will choke on greed, money and oil.

I now submit evidence from independent researchers who have honestly documented aspects of this crime scene that has devastated the health, safety and welfare of human beings and all life along the Gulf of Mexico. Estimates grounded in science predict that this will affect 10 to 20 million people in the United States of America. [14]

What really came out of that Gulf of Mexico Macondo well of so-called “Fossil Fuel” – a term used very loosely in the lexicon of oil geohazard professionals? If we knew what was in the mixture that we put in our gas tanks, we might think twice about this destruction in the Gulf – especially when it only supplies 10% maximum of our oil consumption in this country.

People exposed to these toxins are becoming sick very quickly and dying, their immune systems are highly compromised, they are bleeding from every orifice, bruising is occurring spontaneously, lesions are horrific, lung capacities are declining and hearts are enlarging with every moment we waste not paying attention to the human condition.

Dr. Tom Termotto, an Integrative Health Consultant, head of the Gulf Spill Remediative Task Force and prolific researcher and educator, has written compelling scientific articles on this subject. The information has been affirmed by other scientists. He poses this question: “What do you get when you mix oil & methane gas with oil dispersant (Corexit), with radioactive effluent, with surface-burning oil slicks (petroleum + dispersant), with lots of dead marine life of every sort and kind in the Gulf of Mexico during a hot and humid summer?”

His answer: “A toxic petrochemical stew which is neither safe to eat from, nor swim in. The affected beaches, wetlands, marshes and estuaries should also be viewed with great caution, or avoided altogether.” 15] Dr. Termotto goes on to list established facts to substantiate his conclusion. The origins for his citations are found in his article, a small portion of which is quoted below, and which I highly recommend be read in full.

“It only takes 1 barrel of oil to effectively pollute one million barrels of seawater. Using the 87 days till the geyser was controlled; an estimated 87 X 100,000 barrels per day totaling 8.7 million barrels of hydrocarbon effluent (oil + methane + particulates such as sand, stones, gravel, and other debris from deep down under) and its many derivatives were released.

This bio-accumulates within living organisms and will concentrate in adipose tissue in human beings. It contains many different chemical constituents that will break down, each of which possesses different levels of toxicity to marine and human life.

Crude oil is a mixture of many different kinds of organic compounds, many of which are highly toxic and cancer-causing (carcinogenic). Oil is acutely lethal to fish, that is, it kills fish quickly at a concentration of 4000 parts per million (ppm) or 0.4%. It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife. This would be a concentration of only 1 ppm. Crude oil and petroleum distillates cause birth defects.

Benzene is present in both crude oil and gasoline and is known to cause leukemia in humans. The compound is also known to lower the white blood cell count in humans, which would leave people exposed to it more susceptible to infections. Studies have linked benzene exposure in the mere parts per billion (ppb) ranges to terminal leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and other blood and immune system diseases within 5-15 years of exposure. Benzene exposure at below 1 part per million (1 ppm) causes hematotoxicity in exposed workers.”

Dr. Termotto also addresses the main health hazards associated with breathing methane. “Methane is not toxic below the lower explosive limit of 5% (50,000 ppm). However, when methane is present at high concentrations, it acts as an asphyxiant. Asphyxiants displace oxygen in the air and can cause symptoms of oxygen deprivation (asphyxiation).

The available oxygen should be a minimum of 18% or harmful effects will result. Methane displaces oxygen to 18% in air when present at 14% (140,000 ppm). It is not expected to cause unconsciousness (narcosis) due to central nervous system depression until it reaches much higher concentrations (30% or 300,000 ppm), well above the lower explosive limit and asphyxiating concentrations.

Effects of oxygen deficiency include:

12-16%……breathing and pulse rate are increased, with slight muscular incoordination;
10-14%……emotional upsets, abnormal fatigue from exertion, disturbed respiration;
6-10%……nausea and vomiting, inability to move freely, collapse, possible lack of consciousness;

Below 6%……convulsive movements, gasping, possible respiratory collapse and death.

Since exercise increases the body’s need for oxygen, symptoms will occur more quickly during exertion in an oxygen-deficient environment. Survivors of oxygen deprivation may show damage to some or all organs including the central nervous system and the brain.
These effects may or may not be reversible with time, depending on the degree and duration of the low oxygen and the amount of tissue injury.

Another significant environmental impact caused by methane is the rapid depletion of oxygen in the aquatic environment. This will have many adverse effects on all marine life, especially those aerobic microbes that assist in bio-degrading the petroleum. Their oil-eating effectiveness will surely be compromised, just as all other aerobic organisms will suffer due to hypoxia (insufficient oxygen).

Surface dispersant used:……1,072,514 gallons
Subsea dispersant used:……771,272 gallons
Total dispersant used:……1,843,786 gallons

But some scientists say the chemical mixture, which at one point was being released at a rate of about 70,000 gallons a day, causes more harm than good, and may have contributed to huge plumes of hydrocarbons below the ocean surface.

The fact that Corexit now seems to have been so widely used also poses the question of who, exactly, is calling the shots in our once pristine and sacred Gulf of Mexico?”

In a short YouTube clip, Dr. Riki Ott, John Walthen, Holt Web, Lorrie Williams, Cheri Foytlin and Sherry Alan present some crucial evidence of what was going on in December of 2010 along the shore lines of the Gulf of Mexico. [16]

On May 23, the EPA ordered BP to find a less toxic substance than Corexit for bio-remediating the oil. The Coast Guard gave BP seventy-four exemptions. The workers were not permitted to wear respirators and were told by BP management to take them off. Reporter Anderson Cooper and other mainstream media were told that they could not come within 65 feet to photograph any of the cleanup or spill [17], and this was on public land.

BP in fact made workers sign non-disclosures and warned that if they spoke of what they saw they would lose their jobs. They could not even tell anyone the identity of their employer, and were watched the whole time by BP supervisors and police officers.

I was up in that area, along with David Curtis, trying to obtain samples. During two of these attempts we were nearly arrested. If arrested, we would have been jailed and charged with a class 4 felony and each given a $40,000 fine. The FDA will tell you the seafood is safe, but independent scientists will tell you that 2,604,000 barrels of crude petroleum hydrocarbons came out of that Well From Hell. Even now as I write this, methane is still seeping from the Gulf floor.

I ask you, as one human being to another, would you eat the seafood, or let your child play in the waters? Would you trust the Government, the EPA, CDC and FDA, who are entrusted to look after the health, welfare and safety of our environment and our citizens, to tell us that the waters are safe and the spill is GONE? Here is the truth about the seafood:

· Oysters tested contained 9,780 mg of petroleum hydrocarbons
· Blue Crabs contained 2,230 mg of petroleum hydrocarbons
· Muscles contained 6,900 mg of petroleum hydrocarbons
· Flounder contained 21,575 mg of petroleum hydrocarbons
· Shrimp purchased by Mac McKenzie and studied by veteran chemist Bob Naman contained 193 ppm of petroleum hydrocarbons. [18]

As a concerned citizen, I know that this food is not safe. The smell and taste tests prove nothing. Just because you cannot see it or smell it does not mean it is not there. Many people do not want to believe that this could happen in the United States of America. While we have been busy minding others’ business all over the world and fighting wars in far countries, we have been terribly asleep at home.
We have allowed corporations to rule this country over the rights of the people.

On August 20, 2010, the CDC walked out on those people, just as they have walked out on others with Hyper-Toxicity aka NCS and Morgellons and Lyme Disease. They have let our own nation down, by not telling us the truth and by walking away from the humans suffering. We can additionally place many health care providers and heads of Health and Human Services in this same category.

In fact, sufferers in that spill have told me personally that doctors have called them depressed and delusional. Kindra Arneson, a whistleblower against BP’s tactics, went to doctors and was told that she was depressed. She was not depressed – she was sick. She insists they are still spraying Corexit on people of the Gulf Coast. The question she asks is, “What are we – some big science experiment?” [19]

Dahr Jamal, a dedicated reporter with Aljazeera News, interviewed Dr. Rodney Soto on January 5, 2011. [20] The following paragraphs are copied from that interview. Dr. Soto explained the health impacts on his patients. “Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders.”

Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood.

While there are many examples of acute exposures, Dr. Soto’s concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later. “This latter group develops symptoms over years,” he told Al Jazeera. “I’m concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms.

But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems.” Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effects of the toxins, because they have “tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function.” The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are “liposoluble” – meaning they have a “high affinity for fat,” according to Dr. Soto.

“The human brain is 70 percent fat,” Dr. Soto added, “and these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thyroid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children.” His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause “development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer.”

Dr. Soto believes that for residents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP’s toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes systemic detoxification programs.”

You will see from my research and pictorials that the lesions and symptoms of these people are strikingly similar to those suffering from Morgellons, NCS, Hyper-Toxicity and Lyme Disease. Doctors continue to diagnose most of these patients with staph, but how do we know without a culture and sensitivity? This BP Oil Spill Plague is far worse.

Now, finally. the truth. We have ingested, sprayed into our environment and treated our bodies and homes with countless chemicals based on petrochemicals. Take a good look around. We have allowed science to tinker with the natural wonders of our world and disrupt the ecosystems of our Earth, skies, and waters – all in the cause of money and greed.

We have allowed our Government to run roughshod over our rights to choose what we eat, drink and choose to supplement in the forms of herbals and pharmaceuticals. It is no wonder everyone is sick. This is what we and our governmental regulatory bodies have allowed since the beginning of the Industrial Age. Our country has consequently become a toxic dump – created of the Corporations, by the Corporations and for the Corporations. If we do not speak up to educate and protest, then they will take more of our personal rights.

It is time to stop this madness, which benefits so few while harming so many.

B.K. Lim, a Geohazards specialist and researcher with over 30 years experience in the Oil and Gas Exploration industry, partnered with Dr. Tom Termotto to write an eye-opening article entitled “Phoenix Rising from the Gulf Part II”. [21]

They explain how our Government let this happen. The evidence and citations written in this piece are extremely lucid and revealing. The supporting documentation will be found within their article, parts of which are quoted here. In the responses section, B.K. Lim answered a question from Que.

Que asks, “It’s hard to imagine so many things going wrong at once, but I have trouble imagining a plot to make failure deliberate. It seems like an accumulation of poor decisions leading up to the blowout, failure of key safety devices, and a failure of people to act decisively because of a fear of overreacting.”

Lim replies, “Que, I too had trouble believing this disaster was allowed to happen until these facts surfaced: Interior Department’s Mineral Management Service (MMS) gave BP’s lease at Deepwater Horizon a categorical exclusion that exempted it from a detailed environmental impact analysis in 2009. What’s more, BP was engaged in lobbying efforts to expand such exemptions only eleven days before the April 20 explosion.”

“An acoustic switch could have averted the disaster, and, Kennedy said in 2000, the Minerals Management Service while weighing a comprehensive rule making for drilling safety, deemed the acoustic mechanism essential and proposed to mandate the mechanism on all gulf rigs. But between January and March of 2001, incoming Vice President Dick Cheney conducted secret meetings with over 100 oil industry officials allowing them to draft a wish-list of industry demands to be implemented by the oil-friendly administration.”

“Cheney also used that time to re-staff the Minerals Management Service with oil industry toadies including a cabal of his Wyoming carbon cronies. In 2003, newly reconstituted Minerals Management Service genuflected to the oil cartel by recommending the removal of the proposed requirement for acoustic switches.”

“If you combine that with:

– The massive shares sell-off by Tony Hayward & at least 4 other directors (London and New York), Goldman Sachs and many other executives unlisted

– Former EPA attorney Jeanne Pascal had been unsuccessful in debarring BP for the last 12 years (someone in TPTB blocking her effort)

– Clear bathymetric data and geological evidence that the Macondo Wells were the worst possible location to drill safely (or best possible location to look for trouble)

– Multiple near-disaster misses (out-of-well control situations) and so many red flags on the way to disaster

– Halliburton’s buy-out of Boots & Coots for $240.4 million on 12 April, 8 days before the blowout.

– Stockpile of millions of barrels of Corexit and still being manufactured by and in stock after it was removed from a list of approved treatments for oil spills in the U.K. more than a decade ago. Turns out that Rodney F. Chase, who sits on the board of Nalco, was also a BP board member. Likelihood that he still holds shares in both companies is very high. So it wasn’t JUST nepotism, it was a for-profit choice.

– BP had been investing a lot of research time and money to pursue genetic modifications that would enhance natural microbial abilities to eat up oil spills on both land and sea.”

“Anyone independent enough, would come to the logical conclusion that the battleground for a disaster was well prepared but not the prevention part (all the defenses left wide open). How come? Isn’t Prevention better than Cure? Perhaps CURE or Disaster is a better windfall for some, especially those who happened to know well before the disaster to prepare the coffins?”

“Sorry Que, the more I dug into this disaster, the dirtier is this oily business.” The Gulf of Mexico is Dying: A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill.

This fine man BK Lim has now become the target of an assassination attempt and other fine, caring scientists are missing and have been Murdered. We are no longer a Country of the people seeking the truth, but of the Corporations trying to control our information to the public. [22]

I’ve discovered that genetically modified organisms, be they insects, foods, seeds or other life, have no place in our world. I strongly believe it is wrong for man to think he can tinker with Nature and change life to his will without unforeseen and devastating consequences. That thinking reveals ignorant shortsightedness. We as a species have become resistant to chemicals made by man.

Our Medical system is based upon studies which focus on parts of a problem without looking at the human condition in the entirety. Likewise, our science does not see the whole picture of the water and our globe ­ it has been broken into fragments to study by universities with funding.
Inch by inch to miles by miles in the process, we lose pieces of the full spectrum of our universe which cannot be recovered. Our government, sciences, food, soil, water, seas and skies have become compromised through the ignorant pursuit of this attitude.

The continuing effects of this Spill and its ramifications on man and our world are tremendous. Man is a reflection of Nature. Every drop of water we drink, every morsel of food we eat, every breath we take, impacts us now and in future generations. We are tied to the soil, water, food, animals, birds and sea-life and to our Mother Earth. As we pollute our environment, we harm ourselves. It is not a question of Man overcoming Nature. There is no degree of separation between Nature and mankind. As a collective consciousness, we need to remember ­ this is an undeniable and irrefutable truth.

I thank that honest Geologist in D.C. who encouraged me to investigate, contribute, and inform, for his warnings years ago. I thank all that are mentioned above and cited, my husband, Richard W Springstead MD who has endured my tantrums and passion. Tom and BK Lim for showing me the truth. Jeff Rense, and James Arthur Janick I dedicate this labor of love to my mother, Phyllis Rummel and Hulda Clark, the truth seekers who set me on my path.

My sincere gratitude and respect to all the individuals whose efforts are mentioned, and more, whose research, passion and generosity inspire us all. We must claim back our terrain, within and without, physically, environmentally, emotionally and spiritually. I hope you will take a closer look at the evidence presented here and beyond, and apply that knowledge for the healing of ourselves and our “irreplaceable world”

Notes

1 Jackson Browne “Lives in the Balance”: http://www.jrp-graphics.com/jb/litb.html

2 Multiple Sources including:

Body Bugs Patrick Frazier for WSNV:

http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/investigations/MI39689/
http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/investigations/MI46364/
http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/investigations/MI67897/

Barbara Minton for Natural News:

http://www.naturalnews.com/025757_disease_Morgellons_fiber.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/025786_disease_Morgellons_WHO.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/023004_Morgellons_disease_fiber.html

Dr. James Schaller:

http://www.personalconsult.com/pubindex.html#morgellons

Trisha Springstead RN, MS, click “Morgellons Help” at upper left:

http://www.espbotanicals.com
http://www.morgellonsfocus.com
http://morgellonspgpr.wordpress.com

3 Bengt Robbert & Arnel Lindgren: http://www.anuwater.com

Dr. Robert O. Young: http://www.phmiracleliving.com

Dr. Patrick: http://tinyurl.com/4md6h7r

4 Dr. Omar Amin, Study of 50 subjects with amalgam mercury and dental sealant toxicity:

http://www.parasitetesting.com/morgellons.cfm

5 Dahr Jamail:

http://bpoil.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/illness-plagues-gulf-residents-in-bps-aftermath-dahr-jamail/
Alex Jones: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread624755/pg1

6 Dr. Jeffrey Smith: http://www.seedsofdeception.com

Michael Pollan: http://michaelpollan.com/media/interviews-and-profiles/

7 http://www.simplesteps.org/chemicals/hexavalent-chromium

8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC344268/

9 Dr. Riki Ott: http://www.rikiott.com

10 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC235858/ and
http://tinyurl.com/469ca4j

11 Dr. Riki Ott, Not One Drop: http://www.rikiott.com/books.php

12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQk3cSAcl6I

13 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2007429,00.html

14 http://tinyurl.com/4fhgysf

15 http://worldwellnesssymposium.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/
environmental-and-health-impacts-of-the-bp-gulf-oil-spill/
http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/

16 http://morgellonsreport.com/2010/12/31/the-gulf-now/

17 Anderson Cooper for CNN: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/07/coast-guard-bans-reporters-oil-cleanup-sites/#

18 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385×523115 &
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/07/marine-biologist-claims-coast-guard-involved-corexit-spraying/#

19 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54mmmu6YNzs

20 http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/12/20101230105158700342.html

21 https://phoenixrisingfromthegulf2.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/
bp-and-macondo-evidence-now-shifting-from-lihop-to-mihop/

22 http://oilgate.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/plaintiffs%e2%80%99-rico-case-statement-against-bp/

Trisha Springstead, RN, MS Biological Science

Trisha Springstead is a Registered Nurse licensed in Florida. Trained in medicine at Loma Linda University, UCSB, and Riverside State College. Over 36 years in the medical field, she’s worked in a myriad of specialties and was clinical educator for two HMA Hospitals and administrator.

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OPERATION GULF GREASE: Problem, Reaction, Solution to implement Agenda 21?

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In the days prior to the Gulf drilling operation and ensuing environmental catastrophe, I remember thinking just how odd and out of

What is the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty? Click image and read the details.

character it was that Barack Obama had announced his approval for more offshore drilling. On April 1st, The Washington Post quoted Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as saying the administration had broached “a new direction” in energy policy. [1]

Had Obama lost his mind? Had he had some sort of religious experience? This was a president who campaigned against traditional energy sources in favor of so-called “sustainable” alternatives such as wind, solar, etc. This was a president who banned offshore drilling as one of his first acts in executive office.[2] This was a president who admitted in a meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle in January of 2008 that it was his plan to use a Cap and Trade system to cause energy prices to “necessarily skyrocket” in order to force people to transition to “green” technologies. “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,” Obama stated as documented in a YouTube video. [3]

Hence, the shock at the sudden “turnabout” in energy policy. True, the vast majority of Americans do support drilling for oil as a counterweight against increasing dependence upon the perpetually troubled Middle East and its OPEC cartel. But since when has any president in recent history paid attention to the opines of their electorate?

Now, as the days turn into weeks, and weeks into months — and the oil continues to gush in the Gulf with no sign of ever letting up — Obama has used the crisis as an excuse to not only ban offshore drilling,[4] but also to clamor for passage of his “cap and trade” energy bill.[5] Politico has cited opinion polls that suggest public support for drilling may be eroding.[6]

Was this the Hegelian plan all along? To foment a crisis in the Gulf to condition the masses that the world must adopt Agenda 21 “sustainable development” as its model for energy or pay the environmental consequences? Before you dismiss this notion as insanity, there are many troubling questions that demand answers. Questions that imply foreknowledge and planning. Questions of “coincidence.”

For example, is it “coincidental” the numerous incredible financial and business transactions that took place in the days, weeks, and months prior to the rig explosion?

We know the ties between British Petroleum and Goldman Sachs run deep. Peter Sutherland, the chairman of Goldman Sachs International also served as chairman of BP right up until last year, according to a 2009 bio on the site of the Trilateral Commission. It says,

“Peter Sutherland is chairman of BP plc (1997 – current). He is also chairman of Goldman Sachs International (1995 – current). He was appointed chairman of the London School of Economics in 2008. He is currently UN special representative for migration and development. Before these appointments, he was the founding director-general of the World Trade Organization. He had previously served as director general of GATT since July 1993 and was instrumental in concluding the Uruguay GATT Round Negotiations.”[7]

On April 30th, The Huffington Post published a satire piece about Goldman Sachs, who was embroiled in a Congressional probe over the present and pending financial meltdown just days before the Gulf disaster stole the headlines. The spoof article titled, Goldman Sachs Reveals It Shorted Gulf of Mexico, was actually mistaken by some as a legitimate news story. Written by a comedian, the satirical article said,

“In what is looming as another public relations predicament for Goldman Sachs, the banking giant admitted today that it made ‘a substantial financial bet against the Gulf of Mexico’ one day before the sinking of an oil rig in that body of water.”[8]

After this gag piece was published, various independent researchers began checking into the financial transactions of Goldman. What they found turned out to be a case of art imitating life.

Sterling Allan reported in The Examiner on May 5th,

“It turns out that Goldman Sachs really did place shorts on TransOcean stock days before the explosions rocked the rig in the Gulf of Mexico sending stocks plunging while GS profits soared — benefitting [sic] once again from a huge disaster, having done the same with airline stocks prior to 911 then again with the housing bubble.”[9]

It’s important to note the cozy relationship between Goldman Sachs and the Obama administration. According to McClatchy, while Goldman Sachs was under fire from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and their lawyers were in negotiations with the regulatory agency, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein was a repeated visitor to the White House. He attended events with Obama and met with Larry Summers, Obama’s top economic advisor. Obama’s 2008 campaign benefited from $994,795 worth of campaign donations from Goldman employees and their relatives.[10] The Gulf disaster, coming on the heels of the Congressional hearing and SEC “investigation,” served to distract attention from the ongoing financial fraud and economic meltdown caused by Goldman and others.

We now know from John Byrne at Raw Story that prior to the Gulf oil mess, not only did Goldman Sachs short shares of TransOcean, the owner of the failed Deepwater Horizon rig, they also ditched 4,680,822 shares of BP stock, worth $250 million and representing 44% of their holdings. “Goldman’s sales were the largest of any firm during that time,” writes Byrne. “Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP’s stock during the quarter.”[11]

Byrne also noted other financial institutions that also dumped BP holdings.

“Other asset management firms also sold huge blocks of BP stock in the first quarter — but their sales were a fraction of Goldman’s. Wachovia, which is owned by Wells Fargo, sold 2,667,419 shares; UBS, the Swiss bank, sold 2,125,566 shares.”[12]

If that weren’t enough of a “coincidence,” we also had The Telegraph out of London reporting that the chief executive of BP, Tony Hayward, also sold 223,288 shares, worth £1.4 million of stock in his own company (over $2 million) on March 17th — only weeks before the BP Gulf mess. The paper noted that by doing so he “avoided losing more than £423,000 ($614,449) when BP’s share price plunged after the oil spill began six weeks ago.”[13] He took the money and paid off the mortgage on his family mansion in Kent.

At this point, a question should be coming to mind: What did these people know that the rest of us didn’t? How is it that stock in BP and Transocean suddenly seemed so unattractive to those closest to the disaster? Ah, the coincidences! But it gets even better.

On April 10th, The Houston Chronicle reported that Halliburton — the company of which former Vice-President Dick Cheney was CEO — was in the process of acquiring Boots & Coots. Reuters reported that the deal was announced on Friday, April 9th — just eleven days prior to the explosion.[14] The Chronicle noted that “Boots & Coots has become well known for putting out some of the world’s largest oil and gas fires.”[15] The company’s website lists services they provide, including “deepwater application and well inspections, as well as blowout prevention and control counsel or assistance…”[16] According to the Orlando Sentinel, their expertise is already being put to use in the Gulf, as they are “one of two primary companies designing relief-well strategies for the BP blowout.”[17]

So when the acquisition deal is formerly approved by the government, Halliburton — the company famous for profiting from no-bid government contracts in war zones — will have collected for themselves yet another “slick” profit.

This is especially intriguing in light of the fact that, according to NPR, Halliburton’s cementing work — completed only hours prior to the explosion — has become a “central focus” of the Congressional investigation.[18] The Wall Street Journal quotes unnamed “experts” as saying the timing of the cementing in relation to the blast “points to it as a possible culprit.”[19]

But Halliburton isn’t the only company that stands to make a killing off the crisis. The Times Online out of the UK reported that TransOcean itself took out a $560 million insurance policy on the Deepwater Horizon rig. The dollar amount was well above the rig’s value. According to the paper, insurance payouts amounted to a $270 million profit from the disaster.

“The windfall, revealed in a conference call with analysts, will more than cover the $200m that Transocean expects to pay to survivors and their families and for higher insurance costs.”[20]

A number of people have questioned why Corexit — a chemical banned in the UK[21] and is much more toxic than the oil itself — was used as a dispersant in the Gulf. Assuming for the moment that chemical dispersants had to be used, the New York Times reported on May 13th:

“Of 18 dispersants whose use EPA has approved, 12 were found to be more effective on southern Louisiana crude than Corexit, EPA data show. Two of the 12 were found to be 100 percent effective on Gulf of Mexico crude, while the two Corexit products rated 56 percent and 63 percent effective, respectively. The toxicity of the 12 was shown to be either comparable to the Corexit line or, in some cases, 10 or 20 times less, according to EPA.”[22]

Yet, despite the EPA data ranking it “far above dispersants made by competitors” for toxicity, BP chose to dump more than 400,000 gallons of Corexit into the Gulf, order 805,000 more gallons with plans of hundreds of thousands of additional gallons should the spewing continue. Why?

The answer may lie in the fact that not only has Corexit production benefited BP and Exxon Chemical Company, it also has ties to the very same banking company that somehow knew to sell nearly half its holdings in BP stock just prior to the disaster — Goldman Sachs. Cassandra Anderson of Morph City connects the dots to the economic ties between the oil industry and the bankers.

“Corexit is produced by NALCO, originally named the National Aluminate Corporation, which formed a limited partnership with Exxon Chemical Company in 1994. Ondeo Nalco was purchased by Goldman Sachs, Apollo and Blackstone in 2003 and is currently a publicly traded company. Given NALCO’s business ties, it seems that safe and natural cleanup methods were avoided in the Gulf to pursue an economic agenda. The use of Corexit in Alaska, after the Exxon Valdez disaster, resulted in toxicity to humans that included respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders.”[23]

They say that history repeats itself. We know from wire reports that all 125 fishing boats had to be recalled from Gulf cleanup efforts after workers aboard began “experiencing nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains.”[24]

What’s going on here? Is the Gulf being poisoned on purpose to enhance corporate profits? Or has this crisis been orchestrated by the illuminists in order to force the United States to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) which would cede control of the oceans — over 70 percent of the planet’s surface — to the United Nations?

One must always keep in mind that Agenda 21 is the game plan for all that happens in the world today. The Hegelian dialectic is the means by which that game plan is implemented — creation of a crisis to condition the minds of the people that an undesired change is necessary, creation of their own controlled opposition to the crisis, finally the introduction of their pre-determined solution.

Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 deals with “Protection of the Oceans, all Kinds of Seas, Including Enclosed & Semi-enclosed Seas, & Coastal Areas & the Protection, Rational Use & Development of their Living Resources.” Who will determine what constitutes “rational use” of the oceans and their resources? If the LOST is ratified, it will be the United Nations.

In July 2009, State Department official Margaret Hayes told the New York Times that the Obama administration was in the process of working to “craft a plan to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

“President Obama is strongly in favor of the United States becoming a party to the Law of the Sea Convention,” Hayes was quoted as saying. “There is discussion going on as to the exact timing of when they might have a hearing and when they might proceed to have the full Senate consider accession.”[25]

The Times goes on to report that the administration is continuing a multi-year mapping of the sea floor in the Arctic in preparation to stake a claim under the LOST.[26]

Furthermore, the World Ocean Council, an alliance of multi-national businesses that are dedicated to ocean “sustainability,” is having its “Corporate Ocean Responsibility” meeting this month — conveniently on the heels of a major maritime disaster. The Sustainable Ocean Summit is described as “the first international, cross-sectoral ocean sustainability conference for the private sector – [that] will catalyze the growing interest among ocean businesses for more effective leadership and collaboration in addressing ocean environmental challenges.”[27] It just so happens that two of the founding members of the World Ocean Council are ExxonMobil and TransOcean.[28]

That the crisis in the Gulf may have been planned and executed with the intention of profiting from it while pushing an environmental control agenda, might explain the pathetic federal response after the disaster. [NWV POLL: Was the Gulf oil spill deliberately created?]

Three days after learning of the Gulf gusher, the Interior Department Chief of Staff Tom Strickland left for the Grand Canyon with his wife and went white water rafting.[29] The Department of the Interior is charged with the task of coordinating federal response to a major oil spill. Yet, Strickland’s priorities were elsewhere.

The “In-Situ Burn” plan was developed by the federal government in 1994 to deal with oil spill disasters in the Gulf, and calls for the immediate use of fire booms. Had the plan been followed, it might have prevented oil from reaching the shoreline. A single fire boom can burn up to 1,800 barrels or 75,000 gallons an hour. Yet, despite the plan, not one fire boom was available anywhere in the Gulf at the time of the incident.[30] [31]

On May 11th, ABC News reported that the U.S. Coast Guard conducted operations in the Gulf, simulating a major oil spill and practicing federal response to it a mere three weeks prior to the real disaster.[32] What was the purpose of the simulation? Obviously, it wasn’t to improve federal response.

In 2002, there was a similar practice operation which ABC describes as “eerily similar” to the current disaster. Lack of experience, poor communications, conflicting roles, and a need for new technology were cited. None of the recommendations were ever put into place.[33]

Wire reports from the Associated Press have said that workers aboard the rig were forced to sign statements that they hadn’t witnessed the explosion. They were told they couldn’t go home, nor could they make phone calls and talk to their friends and family until they signed the statements indicating they had no “first hand or personal knowledge” of the incident.[34]

We now have private military contractors deployed from Wackenhut — the military contractor infamous for its employees’ drunken brawls and vodka shots taken out of each other’s backside — guarding the perimeter of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command.

Respected attorney Ellen Brown has written about empty Wackenhut buses with prison bars on the windows being driven around for no apparent reason in Arizona. Your writer has personally talked to other people who have seen these buses. Ellen wrote last year:

“The new Wackenhut operation is shrouded in mystery. It has been running its fleet of empty prison buses night and day, apparently logging miles on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract. Multiple buses can be seen driving all over town and even on remote desert back roads. Oddly, except for the driver and one escort guard seated in front, these buses appear to be empty.”[35]

Network news media have been complaining of being harassed and threatened by the security contractors for shooting video of the coast,[36] [37] which we’re told may soon become uninhabitable. Will Wackenhut buses be utilized to relocate mass numbers of people out of the coastal states?

It’s shaping up to be an interesting summer.

The Psychopathic Criminal Enterprise Called America

The Government uses the Law to Harm People and Shield the Establishment

By Prof. John Kozy

District of Criminals, for criminals and by criminals.

Most Americans know that politicians make promises they never fulfill; few know that politicians make promises they lack the means to fulfill, as President Obama’s political posturing on the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico makes perfectly clear.

Obama has made the following statements:

He told his “independent commission” investigating the Gulf oil spill to “thoroughly examine the disaster and its causes to ensure that the nation never faces such a catastrophe again.” Aside from the fact that presidential commissions have a history of providing dubious reports and ineffective recommendations, does anyone really believe that a way can be found to prevent industrial accidents from happening ever again? Even if the commissions findings and recommendations succeed in reducing the likelihood of such accidents, doesn’t this disaster prove that it only takes one? And unlikely events happen every day.

The president has said, “if laws are insufficient, they’ll be changed.” But no president has this ability, only Congress has, and the president must surely know how difficult getting the Congress to effectively change anything is. He also said that “if government oversight wasn’t tough enough, that will change, too.” Will it? Even if he replaces every person in an oversight position, he can’t guarantee it. The people who receive regulatory positions always have ties to the industries they oversee and can look forward to lucrative jobs in those industries when they leave governmental service. As long as corporate money is allowed to influence governmental action, neither the Congress nor regulators can be expected to change the laws or regulatory practices in ways that make them effective, and there is nothing any president can do about it. Even the Congress’ attempt to raise the corporate liability limit for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion has already hit a snag.

The President has said that “if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice” and that BP would be held accountable for the “horrific disaster.” He said BP will be paying the bill, and BP has said it takes responsibility for the clean-up and will pay compensation for “legitimate and objectively verifiable” claims for property damage, personal injury, and commercial losses. But “justice” is rendered in American courts, not by the executive branch. Any attempts to hold BP responsible will be adjudicated in the courts at the same snail’s pace that the responsibility for the Exxon-Mobile Alaska oil spill was adjudicated and likely will have the same results.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. In Baker v. Exxon, an Anchorage jury awarded $287 million for actual damages and $5 billion for punitive damages, but after nineteen years of appellate jurisprudence, the Supreme Court on June 25, 2008 issued a ruling reducing the punitive damages to $507.5 million, roughly a tenth of the original jury’s award. Furthermore, even that amount was reduced further by nineteen years of inflation. By that time, many of the people who would have been compensated by these funds had died.

The establishment calls this justice. Do you? Do those of you who reside in the coastal states that will ultimately be affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster really believe that the President can make good on this promise of holding BP responsible? By the time all the lawsuits filed in response to this disaster wend their ways through the legal system, Mr. Obama will be grayed, wizened, and ensconced in a plush chair in an Obama Presidential Library, completely out of the picture and devoid of all responsibility.

Politicians who engage in this duplicitous posturing know that they can’t fulfill their promises. They know they are lying; yet they do it pathologically. Aesop writes, “A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.” Perhaps that’s why politicians never do.

Government in America consists of law. Legislators write it, executives apply it, and courts adjudicate it. But the law is a lie. We are told to respect the law and that it protects us. But it doesn’t. Think about it people! The law and law enforcement only come into play secundum vitium (after the crime). The police don’t show up before you’re assaulted, robbed, or murdered; they come after. So how does that protect you? Yes, if a relationship of trust is violated, you can sue if you can afford it, and even that’s not a sure thing. (Remember the victims of the Exxon-Valdez disaster!) Even if the person who violated the relationship gets sanctioned, will you be “made whole”? Most likely not! Relying on the law is a fool’s errand. It’s enacted, enforced, and adjudicated by liars.

The law is a great crime, far greater than the activities it outlaws, and there’s no way you can protect yourself from it. The establishment protects itself. The law does not protect people. It is merely an instrument of retribution. It can only be used, often ineffectively, to get back at the malefactor. It never un-dos the crime. Executing the murderer doesn’t bring back the dead. Putting Ponzi schemers in jail doesn’t get your money back. And holding BP responsible won’t restore the Louisiana marshes, won’t bring back the dead marine and other wildlife, and won’t compensate the victims for their losses. Carefully watch what happens over the next twenty years as the government uses the law to shield BP, Transocean, and Halliburton while the claims of those affected by the spill disappear into the quicksand of the American legal system.

Jim Kouri, citing FBI studies, writes that “some of the character traits exhibited by serial killers or criminals may be observed in many within the political arena.;” they share the traits of psychopaths who are not sensitive to altruistic appeals, such as sympathy for their victims or remorse or guilt over their crimes. They possess the personality traits of lying, narcissism, selfishness, and vanity. These are the people to whom we have entrusted our fate. Is it any wonder that America is failing at home and world-wide?

Some may say that this is an extreme, audacious claim. I, too, was surprised when I read Kouri’s piece. But anecdotal evidence to support it is easily cited. John McCain said “bomb, bomb, bomb” during the last presidential campaign in response to a question about Iran. No one in government has expressed the slightest qualms about the killing of tens of thousands of people in both Iraq and Afghanistan who had absolutely nothing to do with what happened on nine/eleven or the deliberate targeting of women and children by unmanned drones in Pakistan. What if anything distinguishes serial killers from these governmental officials? Only that they don’t do the killing themselves but have others do it for them. But that’s exactly what most of the godfathers of the cosa nostra did.

So, there are questions that need to be posed: Has the government of the United States of America become a criminal enterprise? Is the nation ruled by psychopaths? Well, how can the impoverishment of the people, the promotion of the military-industrial complex and endless wars and their genocidal killing, the degradation of the environment, the neglect of the collapsing infrastructure, and the support of corrupt and authoritarian governments (often called democracies) abroad be explained? Worse, why are corporations allowed to profiteer during wars while the people are called upon to sacrifice? Why hasn’t the government ever tried to prohibit such profiteering? It’s not that it can’t be done.

In the vernacular, harming people is considered a crime. It is just as much a crime when done by governments, legal systems, or corporations. The government uses the law to harm people or shield the establishment from the consequences of harming people all the time. Watch as no one from the Massey Energy Co. is ever prosecuted for the disaster at the Upper Big Branch coal mine. When corporations are accused of wrongdoing, they often reply that what they did was legal, but legal is not a synonym for right. When criminals gain control, they legalize criminality.

Unless the government of the United States changes its behavior, this nation is doomed. No one in government seems to realize that dissimulation breeds distrust, distrust breeds suspicion, and suspicion eventually arouses censure. Isn’t that failure of recognition by the establishment a sign of criminal psychopathology?
John Kozy is a retired professor of philosophy and logic who blogs on social, political, and economic issues. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he spent 20 years as a university professor and another 20 years working as a writer. He has published a textbook in formal logic commercially, in academic journals and a small number of commercial magazines, and has written a number of guest editorials for newspapers. His on-line pieces can be found on http://www.jkozy.com/ and he can be emailed from that site’s homepage.

BP’s Top Kill Procedure fails as Coast Guard Blocks Media Access

Natural News

BP officials have announced today that the “top kill” effort to stop the Gulf oil leak has failed. Unanticipated problems doomed the project, which involved trying to pump tens of thousands of gallons of mud, shredded rubber tires and other “junk” into the hole to try to halt the outflow of oil.

At 6pm Saturday evening, BP officials announced the “top kill” effort had failed and now they were moving on to another plan (more below).

I am on site at the Gulf Coast right now, and while I haven’t reached the areas where oil is washing up on the beaches, I’m learning some interesting information nonetheless. In particular, finding a hotel room anywhere near New Orleans has become virtually impossible, as BP has rented out virtually every available hotel room from St. Charles, Louisiana all the way to Pensacola, Florida. (I am currently staying in a fleabag hotel that miraculously has internet access…)

But it raises the question: Where are all these people? I haven’t seen a single BP person anywhere, and I was out on some beaches today filming editorial segments for NaturalNews. I did see some small watercraft laying out protective barriers, but I didn’t see any BP people anywhere.

I’ll keep you posted on what we find tomorrow as we approach the beaches to the East of New Orleans.

Expect more oil for the next 10 weeks

Now that the top kill effort has failed, it means oil will keep spewing into the Gulf of Mexico until at least August. That’s when two “pressure release” wells are expected to be completed. The purpose of these two wells is to siphon off the oil from underneath the ocean bed, thereby releasing the pressure that’s currently pushing crude oil out of the existing hole under the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig.

This “plan C” effort remains extremely risky, of course. There’s no guarantee it will work at all. And if it fails, this “volcano of oil” could continue to pollute the Earth’s oceans for years. This could, in fact, be the global killer event I warned about in an earlier story about this BP oil spill. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028805_G…)

We could be looking at a global-scale environmental catastrophe that destroys virtually all marine life in the Gulf of Mexico and takes a century to fully recover. It’s really that bad. If they can’t stop this volcano of oil in the next week, we could be looking at the single most destructive environmental catastrophe ever to strike our planet since the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Get ready for more chemicals

In the mean time, now that the top kill effort has failed, BP has announced it is resuming the spraying of chemical dispersants into the massive oil plumes that remain deep under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico water. This means more chemicals that will kill more forms of marine life throughout the Gulf.

But it’s not just aquatic life that’s being threatened by these chemicals: BP workers are increasingly being sent to the hospital complaining of symptoms like vomiting, dizziness, difficult breathing and others. The obvious cause of such symptoms is the huge amount of crude oil bubbling up to the surface (some of which evaporates into the air) along with the massive injection of chemical dispersants into the waters (some of which also evaporates). CNN is reporting that BP claims it is monitoring air quality, but so far BP has not gone public with any air quality test results.

None of the cleanup workers have been outfitted with chemical masks that might protect them from the volatile chemicals now present in the Gulf waters. Yet CNN is reporting that the warning label on the chemical product made by NALCO states: “Avoid breathing vapor.”

The EPA, meanwhile, remains silent on this whole issue. Remember: It is the EPA that ordered BP to stop using its selected brand of chemical dispersant, but BP utterly ignored the EPA and continues to dump that very same chemical into the Gulf of Mexico right now.

A chemical attack on America

What we are watching here, folks, is very nearly a chemical attack on America by BP and the oil industry. It’s hard to say what’s worse: The oil or the chemical dispersants. In fact, no one knows the answer to that question, and it can’t even be studied by scientists because the disaster keeps growing by the day.

This is one environmental catastrophe that just keeps getting worse, and the cost to the marine ecosystem is incalculable. And that’s not to even mention the economic cost to the region and all the people who depend on life in the Gulf of Mexico for their own livelihoods. Their lives are now being destroyed by this oil drilling catastrophe.

If there’s one lesson that comes from all this, it is a reminder of the immense value Mother Nature provides us each and every day at no charge. The VALUE of a healthy ocean is incalculable. And the COST of killing it may be more than what human civilization can bear.

I suppose this resolves the whole question of what’s more important: The environment or the economy? As we’re rudely discovering today, the economy cannot exist without protecting the environment first.

“There’s Another Oil Leak, Much Bigger, 5 to 6 Miles Away”

Washington’s Blog

Another never discussed oil leak exists below the Gulf of Mexico's water.

Matt Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush, is an adviser to the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, and is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. Simmon is chairman and CEO of Simmons & Company International, an investment bank catering to oil companies.

Simmons told Dylan Ratigan that “there’s another leak, much bigger, 5 to 6 miles away” from the leaking riser and blowout preventer which we’ve all been watching on the underwater cameras:

And as 60 Minutes reports:

[Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon, and one of the last workers to leave the doomed rig] said they were told it would take 21 days; according to him, it actually took six weeks.

With the schedule slipping, Williams says a BP manager ordered a faster pace.

“And he requested to the driller, ‘Hey, let’s bump it up. Let’s bump it up.’ And what he was talking about there is he’s bumping up the rate of penetration. How fast the drill bit is going down,” Williams said.

Williams says going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools and that drilling fluid called “mud.”

“We actually got stuck. And we got stuck so bad we had to send tools down into the drill pipe and sever the pipe,” Williams explained.

That well was abandoned and Deepwater Horizon had to drill a new route to the oil. It cost BP more than two weeks and millions of dollars.

“We were informed of this during one of the safety meetings, that somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million was lost in bottom hole assembly and ‘mud.’ And you always kind of knew that in the back of your mind when they start throwing these big numbers around that there was gonna be a push coming, you know? A push to pick up production and pick up the pace,” Williams said.

Asked if there was pressure on the crew after this happened, Williams told Pelley, “There’s always pressure, but yes, the pressure was increased.”

But the trouble was just beginning: when drilling resumed, Williams says there was an accident on the rig that has not been reported before. He says, four weeks before the explosion, the rig’s most vital piece of safety equipment was damaged.