And The Oil Spill Continueeeesssss
Marshalling Forces To Fight The Oil Spill On The Gulf Islands No one is talking about it, at least I haven't heard anything, but the effects of the oil leak are being felt much further away than just the Gulf of Mexico. I know that the oil is still pretty much in that area, but the problem is bigger than that, but B.P. is hoping that no one realizes it. Fish contaminated with oil swim away from the Gulf and guess what? They get eaten by other fish. This contaminates fish that were never even near the gulf. These fish in turn are then eaten by more fish until we have a full blown epidemic of contaminated fish all over the world. There are no booms, or barriers that can prevent this and it is not only fish that will be effected. Birds also eat fish as do some mammals. What we have here is a contamination that can become huge even if the oil is finally contained. Why are we not hearing more about this? I have to say that I am disappointed in the way this is being handled and the way that B.P. is being sheltered. Sure they have put up a fund, that they call $20 billion dollars, but even that is a misrepresentation. The fund was said to be $5 billion dollars per year, giving the oil giant time to pay this from petty cash. Well not exactly petty cash, but given their revenues of 239 billion dollars as of December 2009, this is just a drop in the old oil well to them. Then there is the fact that they may not even spend the 5 billion dollars they have allotted per year. Some of the fishermen are complaining that they are only receiving about 1/3rd of the money they lost, because of the oil spill, and this is after they presented their books to show what they usually made.
Cleaning The Beach During A Prior Oil Spill There is also a genetic question here. Salmon are being genetically altered on purpose by scientists to make them grow faster, and if we can do this, what will contamination do to the genes of fish and for that matter birds and animals? When the farm Salmon are produced they only contain 1/10 the omega nutrients found in wild Salmon, thus decreasing their value as a food source. Can you image what can happen to a contaminated fish? We already know that a lot of the fish are in trouble and their sex is being threatened. Many fish are now of both sexes. If that isn't a warning I don't know what is. Remember this is happening because of the pollutants that are already in the water and has nothing to do with the oil spill. Scientists have been conducting tests on herring that show when they are exposed to oil they develop abnormalities and possible depressed immune functions. The only gauge that we have to go by is from prior oil spills and none have been of the magnitude of the one that is occurring in the Gulf of Mexico because of British Petroleum. Mortality in fish eggs and larval deformities were documented in 1989. Clearly oil spills are unhealthy for the life in the sea. These tests were taken from the area where the Exxon Valdez oil leak occurred. Before that spill, herring populations were on the increase and there are documents available to back this up. It took 4 years after that spill, but the herring population suffered a devastating decline. This indicates that when all is said and done, if we act to quickly to assess the damage caused by the B.P. spill, we could be underestimating its damage and letting B.P. off the hook too quickly. The oil spill was unfortunate enough. If this occurred in a smaller company, my opinion is that they would have been charged with criminal neglect and people would have went to jail. Unfortunately money talks and we are dealing with a mega company that is world wide and has a bigger money base than most countries. Their influence is tremendous and they can afford to buy their way out of almost anything and I am sure that there are more than a few politicians willing to accept some cash to help them out. Look for the guys, or gals, that will be making excuses as to why B.P. shouldn't be punished. It might pay to watch a couple of the televised hearings just to see that and know who stands where. Then there is also the case of the judges and such, owning B.P. stock. Is it fair to have such a judge sitting on a B.P. Case? You bet it isn't. The problem is that many of these judges don't want to excuse themselves because they are trying to save the value of their stock. Its a dog eat dog world out there folks and it seems that many politicians, the ones who would be involved with this spill, might be more interested with rescuing their own finances than possibly saving the planet. Why do I say saving the planet? Whether we want to admit it or not, not all the oil is on the surface of the water. Huge plumes are floating under the water and some are many miles long and wide. As they drift they contaminate and even kill life. The oxygen content of the water in these areas is very low and even in the water in the Gulf it is going down as more and more oil pours out, thus putting a strain on fish populations among other things. Will we find in the future that these effects will spread around the world as more and more fish get contaminated from eating these fish? Could all this cause wars over the food supply? This oil spill is going to be with us a long time and many years from now, when people read their history books they might be commenting on how fish had fins and tails before the oil spill and you could actually eat them. Let's all hope that something gets done fast and it gets done right, or we are all going to be in a lot of trouble. |
