Environmental Protection Agency?

by Dahr Jamail from Al Jazeera.

This report illustrates how a government agency of the US ruling class functions--to serve their interests while pretending to serve ours. Officially it is an agency whose purpose is as follows: 

The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.

EPA's purpose is to ensure that:

• all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;

• national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information; 

• federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively; 

• environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy; 

• all parts of society -- communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments -- have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks; 

• environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive; and 

• the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.

So far the history of their performance reveals that the main interest of this government agency is far more directed to serving the needs of British Petroleum Oil Corporation.  See this, this, and this.
 
The sharp contrast between official purposes of federal agencies and their actual performance is hidden as much as possible by the propaganda organs of the ruling class, mass media corporations. These organs are a major weapon against any form of popular power. 

If the localization movement accomplishes anything else, it must establish independent grassroots media to counteract this brainwashing. The freedom and democratic nature of the internet is precisely why actions are now being undertaken to exert greater control over it by government and corporations.

Yet, I have not seen any evidence that localization organizations such as Transition Towns regard the development of an independent media as of any importance. Hence, it is easy to conclude that such localization efforts will largely serve to aid the capitalist ruling class by helping ordinary people to survive on less while the rich wage wars, consume ever greater amounts of fossil fuels, and destroy the Earth's habitat. If these trends continue, it seems to me that in the next 30 years the world will increasingly look like this: small islands of the rich living behind powerfully guarded gated communities that are surrounded by huge oceans of the poor everywhere in the world.

Is the Gulf of Mexico safe?

by Dahr Jamail from Al Jazeera. 

Experts, fishermen and residents disagree with federal agencies' claims that the Gulf and its seafood are safe.

I expect that ten years from now mainstream media will be quietly reporting a high incidence of cancers, birth defects, and other strange diseases in the Gulf region. Following these reports you will see experts saying that more research is needed to find the causes.

Reappearance of Huge Plumes of Oil is Making It Hard to Pretend that the Problem Has Disappeared

from Washington's Blog. 

The blogger lists numerous sources of evidence that the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is being widely observed. Funny, but we don't hear much of this in mainstream media.

Scientists Find Thick Layer Of Oil On Seafloor

by Richard Harris from NPR. 

Scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico are finding a substantial layer of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions. Their discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn't simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the seafloor.

Blood Tests Show Elevated Level of Toxic Hydrocarbons in Gulf Residents (article and 2 videos)

from Washington's Blog.  

A number of different chemists are finding elevated levels of toxic hydrocarbons in the bloodstream of Gulf coast residents.

What is most disturbing about these results is that people who simply live near the water are showing higher than normal levels of toxic chemicals. These are not fishermen, shrimpers, oil workers or others who work on the water.

Fish Kills Worry Gulf Scientists, Fishers, Environmentalists

by Dahr Jamail from Dahr Jamail's Dispatches. 

Another massive fish kill, this time in Louisiana, has alarmed scientists, fishers and environmentalists who believe they are caused by oil and dispersants.

Gulf Chemist: Mercenaries Hired By BP Are Now Applying Toxic Dispersant - at Night and In an Uncontrolled Manner - Which BP Says It No Longer Uses

from Washington's Blog. More subterfuge by BP uncovered.

Is Gulf Seafood Really "Safe"?

by Kate Sheppard from Mother Jones. 

In addition to efforts to convince us that the oil is all gone in the Gulf (it's not), the government has been promoting the idea that seafood from the region is totally safe. Obama himself has been banging this drum, noshing on plenty of seafood during his trip to the region last week, serving it up at his birthday bash, and of course, taking a dip in the Gulf with his daughter.

Good News for a Change, Or More Faulty Science? Newly-Discovered Species of Bacteria Claimed to be Breaking Down Oil in Deepwater Plumes in the Gulf

from Washington's Blog. This report was plastered all over mainstream media without any caveats. But our intrepid investigative journalist uncovered this about the research:

As Lawrence Berkeley Labs notes, the research was funded by BP:

    Hazen ... conducted this research under an existing grant he holds with the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) to study microbial enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. EBI is a partnership led by the University of California (UC) Berkeley and including Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois that is funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP.

Unfortunately too many corporations have insinuated themselves and their influence into public institutions via these grants.

Also uncovered by this blogger was that the fact that many scientists are skeptical of the results. Such skepticism has been completely omitted by corporate media that wants the issue to go away from the minds of the public.

Dispersants Cause Gulf Fish to Absorb More Toxins and then Make It Harder for the Fish to Get Rid of the Pollutants Once Exposed

from Washinton's Blog. 

The data is starting to come in regarding the harmful environmental effects of dispersants used by BP to break up the oil in the Gulf. "Our" government never questioned BP's use of these chemicals even though there was little reason to believe that they were safe to use.

Portions of the Gulf are So Toxic that Dolphins, Fish, Crabs, Stingrays and Other Animals are "Trying to Crawl Out of the Water"

from Washington's Blog. This blogger finds some rather startling reports of the toxic effects on marine animals caused by the oil and dispersants flooding the Gulf.

How Has it Come to This?

by Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld from Truthout. 

This article with its pictures and descriptions gives the best portrayal that I have found of what the scene is like on much of the Gulf coast. Mainstream media cannot, or will not, provide this kind of report on the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Top Expert: Geology is "Fractured", Relief Wells May Fail ... BP is Using a "Cloak of Silence", Refusing to Share Even Basic Data with the Government

from Washington's Blog. 

It seems to me that corporate secrecy over a major catastrophic event such as the oil drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates so dramatically how private interests (corporations, ruling class) today thoroughly trump the public interest. BP's secrecy has been carefully hidden from public view and revealed by this source.

Mississippi Shrimpers Refuse to Trawl, Fearing Oil, Dispersants

by Dahr Jamail from IPS. 

The author reports that local fisherman are not taken in by US government authorities who insist that the Gulf fisheries are in fine shape. They are doing their own testing, and the results are discouraging.

 Miller and Stewart, who were both in BP's Vessels of Opportunity programme and were trained in identifying oil and dispersants, have been accused by some members of Mississippi's state government of lying about their findings.

"Why would we lie about oil and dispersant in our waters, when our livelihoods depend on our being able to fish here?" Miller asked IPS. "I want this to be cleaned up so we can get back to how we used to live. But it doesn't make sense for us or anyone else to fish if our waters are toxified. I don't know why people are angry at us for speaking the truth. We're not the ones who put the oil in the water."

The Government Lies to the American People About the Safety of Gulf Seafood

from Washington's Blog. 

Once again the "government of the people, by the people...." lies to its people. But this is because that statement from the Declaration of Independence was a promise that was never kept. Instead what we got was a government of, by, and for the owners of economic property that have managed to concentrate all of the latter into just a relatively few hands--people who constitute a ruling class. 

Also, read an article from the World Socialist Web Site entitled, "Scientists estimate nearly 80 percent of oil remains a threat" in which we find this interesting paragraph:

According to Kindra Arnesen, of Louisiana’s Coastal Heritage Society, fishermen in the Gulf are being forced by dock owners to sign waivers that would make them and not BP potentially liable for any contaminated seafood. Arnesen notes that if the Food and Drug Administration “has waved this magic wand and says that the Gulf is clean and that the seafood is safe, let’s get some FDA mobile units on our docks and let’s do some chemical testing.”

A similar, and most egregious example of "your" government lying to you was when Christine Whitman, Bush appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency, publicly announced to the people of New York shortly after the 9/11 attack that 

the toxins released by the attacks posed no threat to their health. On September 18, the EPA released a report in which Whitman said, "Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink." She also said, "The concentrations are such that they don't pose a health hazard...We're going to make sure everybody is safe."

Soon people became aware of the lie.

Countless people exposed to the pollution are suffering from symptoms of respiratory illnesses today, years after the attacks, like difficulty breathing, coughing, asthma, and even lung cancer and mesothelioma. As the years pass, more and more it has become obvious that more and more of our citizens have been infected with cancer and respiratory disease.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Even when it’s not out of sight)

by Dahr Jamail from Dahr Jamail's Dispatches.

This fine journalist is one of a few outstanding, independent US journalists who, unlike most of his peers, remains unembedded with the ruling class.

The author has trained his sharp-eyed journalistic gaze upon the record breaking environmental disaster in the Gulf that our ruling class would prefer that we forget about. His comparison with the US government's handling of this disaster with the Soviet Union's handling of the Chernobyl disaster is precious. If you want to avoid the usual soothing ruling class palaver about the Gulf disaster, then you must follow honest journalists like Jamail.

The lives of Gulf coast fishermen and residents are being destroyed. Scientists, environmentalists, and toxicologists are describing the Gulf of Mexico as a growing dead zone, a kill zone, and an energy sacrifice zone. As you read this, oil is everywhere around southeastern Louisiana, and continually washing ashore in Alabama and Mississippi.

Deepwater Horizon: it’s worse than you thought (again) – part 2

from The Great Beyond.

Contrast the reports from science oriented websites like this with official reports widely repeated by compliant corporate media. For example, see this from Bloomberg News. It appears to me that the official reports coming from the White House are designed to prepare the way for the lifting of the moratorium on deep-water drilling so that the oil industry can resume "business as usual".

See also this article from Mother Jones on recent media coverage.

BP Response Workers Report Low Morale, Lack of Pay, Sickness

by Dahr Jamail from Truthout.

BP oil disaster response workers are reporting endemic problems, such as not being paid on time, low morale, rampant sickness, equipment failures and being lied to regularly.

Who is Kenneth Feinberg?

from World Socialist Web Site. The author delves into the background of the BP victims "claims czar", and it looks like the ruling class picked the right one to protect the interests of BP.

BP Admits That - If It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow

from Washington's Blog. This blogger has an uncanny way of sifting through all the media garbage until he finds the truth. If you want the latest scoop on BP and the Gulf disaster, read this and view the linked videos.