Greg Palast’s BBC crew of journalist-detectives chase down British Petroleum bag men, CIA operatives, nuclear power con men — and “The Vultures,” billionaire financial speculators who, through bribery, flim-flam and political muscle, take entire nations hostage for mega-profits.
The action begins when the Deepwater Horizon explodes in the Gulf of Mexico and a confidential cable arrives on Miss Badpenny’s desk from a terrified insider. He has the real, hushed-up facts of the disaster — which can only be found hidden in the files of a Central Asian dictatorship.
Palast sets off for Baku to investigate the sexiest Muslim woman on Earth and the whereabouts of millions of dollars in a brown valise. Then he jumps the globe to an Alaska Eskimo village after receiving an extraordinary note from the Chief of Intelligence of the Free Republic of the Arctic.
State and federal Trustees unveiled the first set of early environmental restoration projects that are proposed for funding under the landmark agreement BP signed with the Obama administration in April 2011. The eight proposed projects are located in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
“The Trustees selected projects that are ready to implement quickly and will bring long-term benefits to the region,” said Mike Utsler, Head of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization. “BP is committed to the Gulf, and we look forward to working with state and federal Trustees to identify additional early restoration projects that benefit the Gulf ecosystem and the people who live, work or visit the region.”
The two proposed initial Alabama projects involve an Alabama Dune Restoration Cooperative Project to restore 55 acres of coastal sand dune habitat with native vegetation, protective fencing and informative signs across the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, the Bureau of Land Management Fort Morgan properties, the City of Gulf Shores and the City of Orange Beach.
The second is an Alabama Marsh Island Restoration Project to protect 24 acres of existing salt marsh habitat and create 40 acres of additional salt marsh habitat in Portersville Bay. A permeable breakwater will be constructed in front of the island to reduce erosion of the existing marsh and the additional marsh habitat will be created adjacent to the island.
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force released its final strategy for long term ecosystem restoration for the Gulf Coast Monday following extensive feedback from citizens throughout the region. The Task Force delivered its final strategy recommendations on Friday to President Barack Obama, who established the Task Force by executive order.
The strategy is the first restoration blueprint ever developed for the Gulf to include input from states, tribes, federal agencies, local governments and thousands of involved citizens and organizations across the region, according to the release. The plan represents a commitment by all parties to continue to work together in an unprecedented collaboration to prepare the Gulf region to transition from response to recovery and address the decades-long decline that the Gulf’s ecosystem has endured.
EPA Administrator and Task Force Chair Lisa P. Jackson, partnering with Task Force Co-Chair Garret Graves, made the announcement during keynote remarks at the 2011 State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit in Houston. Ms. Jackson was joined by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Harris Sherman, according to a press release announcing the plan.
“After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, this Task Force brought together people from across the Gulf Coast in unparalleled ways to talk about how we tackle both the immediate environmental devastation, as well as the long-term deterioration that has for decades threatened the health, the environment and the economy of the people who call this place home,” Jackson said. “It has all come to this moment – when we move from planning and researching to supporting real, homegrown actions aimed at restoring this vital ecosystem.”
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued the initial group of violations today against the responsible corporations for the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
The Joint Investigation findings resulted in a total of 15 Incidents of Non-Compliance violations against British Petroleum, Transocean and Halliburton.
“The issuance of INCs to BP, Transocean and Haliburton is an important step in addressing the regulatory violations found during the joint investigation,” the agency says in a press release.
“To ensure the safe and environmentally responsible conduct of offshore operations, companies that violate federal regulations must be held accountable,” Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Michael R. Bromwich said. “The joint investigation clearly revealed the violation of numerous federal regulations designed to protect the integrity of offshore operations; these INCs are the next step in vindicating the regulatory program designed to protect the interests of the public.”
WASHINGTON – The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, chaired by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, released its comprehensive preliminary strategy on Wednesday for long term ecosystem restoration.
The agency is seeking public review and feedback on the strategy, which will be presented to President Obama at the end of the public review period and represents an historic opportunity for addressing long-standing issues contributing to the decline of the Gulf’s critical ecosystem, according to a press release announcing the plan.
“Even before last year’s oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico endured decades of decline that threatened the environmental and economic health of this region. This strategy is designed to prepare the region for transitioning from a response to the spill into a long-term recovery that supports the vital ecosystem and the people who depend on it,” Jackson said. “The health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem starts and ends with its people and its communities. The individuals and families who visit the Gulf, who work in the region, who depend on its resources, and especially those who call it home, know its needs and challenges best. They will be integral to creating and executing this long-term strategy.”
The preliminary strategy is the first effort of its kind to be developed with the involvement of parties throughout the region, including the states, tribes, federal agencies, local governments and thousands of interested citizens and organizations. The plan builds upon on-going efforts underway in the Gulf Coast states includes specific steps for on-the-ground action and represents the Task Force’s commitment to putting Gulf coastal restoration on an equal footing with other national priorities.
On April 20, 2010, the BP Deep Water Horizon floating oil rig drilling on the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing eleven crewmen and injuring seventeen others.
The rig burned for three days and then sank in a mile of water fifty miles off the coast of Grand-Isle Louisiana. Over the next three months, the well gushed an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into Gulf waters, spanning thousands of square miles, threatening hundreds of miles of coastal wetlands and an abundance of wildlife. It was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history.
While BP struggled to cap the spewing well, they began using unprecedented amounts of the controversial chemical dispersant Corexit, both on the surface and, for the first time, sub-sea injection at the broken well-head 5,000 feet below.
Many locals and a few officials feared BP was only using these chemicals to sink the oil, concealing the magnitude of the disaster.
Minnesota Tea Party Republican Michele Bachmann has taken over from Sarah Palin as the biggest dingbat in the presidential race, but I’m afraid a lot of conservative folks who are sympathetic to supporting the environment are not getting the message. Maybe that’s because the main stream media muddles the message on a daily basis.
So let’s be explicit and clear in case all those little old ladies in the Audubon Society over in Mountain Brook and other wealthy suburbs don’t get the message.
On Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann actually came out and made another in a long line of ignorant statements. She said if she were elected president, she would consider drilling for oil and natural gas in the Everglades. The AP story reporting this included in the lead sentence this phrase: “if it can be done without harming the environment.”
But it is an absurd notion that you could drill for oil in a massive natural area of wetlands and not harm the environment. Ask the people of Louisiana, who have lost tens of thousands of acres of land because of oil and gas drilling.
Bryan Parras, Esteban Tovar and Cherri Foytlin have been arrested in Washington, D.C. while protesting a proposed oil pipeline that will run from Canada to Port Arthur, Texas, pushing toxic “tar sand” crude through the heartland of the country. The Tar Sands action began on August 20 and will run through September 3. Organizers aim to persuade President Obama to say “no” to the proposed oil pipeline.
Cherri Foytlin, mother of six and wife of an oil worker, traveled to DC to forge solidarity between those effected on the Gulf Coast, those in Michigan, Montana, Alaska and Canada and to warn communities what is in store should a disaster strike the proposed pipeline.
“You can expect them to lie about the size of the spill, to launch a massive damage control, to tell everyone it’s over, and the media will leave, but your ecosystem will be damaged, your people will be sick and your economy will be ruined,” she said.
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
