Birds falling out of the sky dead in Arkansas…
Birds falling out of the sky dead in Louisiana…
Huge Fish Kill in Arkansas…
Huge Fish Kill in the Chesapeake Bay…
Republicans take over Congress…(And Boehner cried on schedule!)
Nature’s way of telling you, something’s wrong.
A Rock and Roll oldie from my large Afro days (circa 1970), from the Album The 12 dreams of Doctor Sardonicus, Spirit…
Music Fans – Christopher Cross did an excellent cover of this in 1994 on his “Windows” Album.
This is the beginning of a wide scale environmental catastrophe. This is a total kill scenario impacting the area in a number of disastrous ways. Prior to the building of the MRGO Canal (and subsequent filling of it due to it’s role in the post Katrina collapse of the levies) the marshland to the south of New Orleans protected the coast from storms, buffering the waves and flooding. If the oil kills off the marsh, there is noting to impede that water during a storm.
Secondarily, the vast majority of the food supply for the marine environment starts right there in those coastal marshes. Many species of fish spawn there, or spend the early part of their lives protected from predators by the shallow water and reeds. Oysters, which start out as near microscopic “spats” swim in these marshes seeking tidal locations to attach themselves and grow, collecting nutrients in the currents.
The death of the marshland starts a cascade in the ocean food chain that reaches all the way up to the top.
Drill, Baby, Spill!… Indeed.
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Decided to take a few days of down time combining two of my favorite things – a relaxing view of the ocean, and fishing. Limited out yesterday on Flounder Fishing in the Intercoastal back bays of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and I’m headed out this evening to (try and) catch some Drum surfcasting. The Land that time forgot, indeed!
Fortunately, time didn’t forget Internet Service, which in my case is DSL provided (barely) by Verizon – and is about a crappy as it gets and still be sorta functional. I’ll probably do a blog later about how, in the US, the quality (not quantity) of DSL Service in the areas reached is the worst in the world.
IN any event, the news from the Gulf of Mexico continues to be bad. As I gazed out over the beach to the surf, I tried to imagine the beaches covered in black oil, the birds dying, fish kills – and the oyster and clam beds destroyed…
For no other reason than greed and avarice.
This area has survived numerous hurricanes, and the even more destructive NorthEasters, and just off the coast is one part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, where German UBoats during WWII sank hundreds of ships, spilling their contents (and fuel bunkers) along the coast. It is not unusual even today to see the imprint of man along these beaches with parts of those ships washing ashore – and every once in a great while, even a Spanish Piece of Eight from a bygone era. These disasters large and small have, over time been swallowed by the winds and the waves. IN the 20 years I’ve been coming here, I’ve watched the crash site of a WWII Douglass Dauntless Bomber, which splashed down in one of the back bays, degrade each year – until only a few rusty colored spars are left from this intrusion by man 65 years ago.
But what of an environmental disaster the size of the Gulf? Will it be 20-30-40… 50 or 100 years before the fisheries recover? Will they ever recover?
This area is the center of the major migratory path for everything from fish to Butterflies. Our last Republican pro-business Governor damn near killed off the Bluefish fishery by allowing the Japanese Fleet to stretch a net across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. That has still not recovered 15 years later.
Governor Bob McDonnell in the face of this disaster recently re-iterated his support for oil drilling off Virginia’s Coast.
Bob McDonnell Reaffirms Support for Offshore Drilling
Now, we had on Civil War fought in majority in this State…
Maybe it’s time for another.
And they want to do this shit off the East Coast of Virginia? The rig that blew up is one of the new deep water rigs of the type which would be used to drill off of Virginia’s coast. Anybody out there know where I can get a few dozen unused Exocet missiles…
Cheap?
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The oil disaster plaguing the Gulf of Mexico and our coastal states puts our desperate need for a new clean energy economy in stark relief. We need to move away from dirty, dangerous and deadly energy sources.
We are pleased that the White House is now saying it will suspend any new offshore drilling while the explosion and spill are investigated, but there should be no doubt left that drilling will only harm our coasts and the people who live there.
Taking a temporary break from offshore drilling is an important step, but it’s not enough. We need to stop new offshore drilling for good, now. And then we need an aggressive plan to wean America from dirty fossil fuels in the next two decades.
This BP offshore rig that exploded was supposed to be state-of-the-art. We’ve also been assured again and again that the hundreds of offshore drilling rigs along our beaches are completely safe. Now, we’ve seen workers tragically killed. We’ve seen our ocean lit on fire, and now we’re watching hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic oil seep toward wetlands and wildlife habitat.
This rig’s well is leaking 210,000 gallons of crude every day, wiping out aquatic life and smothering the coastal wetlands of Louisiana and Mississippi. As the reeking slick spreads over thousands of square miles of ocean, it rapidly approaches the title of worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, even worse than 1989’s Exxon Valdez oil spill. The well is under 5,000 feet of water, and it could take weeks or even months to cap it.
This disaster could unfortunately happen at any one of the hundreds of drilling platforms off our coasts, at any moment. It could happen at the drilling sites that the oil industry has proposed opening along the beaches of the Atlantic Coast.
Indeed, even before this spill, the oil and gas industry had torn apart the coastal wetlands of the Louisiana Bayou over the years. These drilling operations have caused Louisiana to lose 25 square miles of coastal wetlands, which are natural storm barriers, each year…
Video: Blame game in oil spill//
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Video: Fishermen help along Louisiana coast//
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Video: Fed scrambles against oil spill//
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Indeed, even before this spill, the oil and gas industry had torn apart the coastal wetlands of the Louisiana Bayou over the years. These drilling operations have caused Louisiana to lose 25 square miles of coastal wetlands, which are natural storm barriers, each year.
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