America’s 2010 Gulf Disaster: New Evidence of Its Devastation
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
On April 20, 2010, an initial explosion, then a larger one ignited BP Oil’s Deepwater Horizon platform.
For over a day it burned before sinking, killing 11 crew members, releasing thousands of barrels of oil daily, around five million overall, causing an environmental disaster.
The lives, health and welfare of hundreds of thousands of Gulf coast residents were grievously harmed, local economies gravely impacted, and large parts of the Gulf contaminated by toxic hydrocarbons and dispersants, making seafood unsafe to eat.
Obama regime officials, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and BP executives lied, claiming most oil disappeared, 96% of Gulf waters safe and reopened, seafood harvested safe for human consumption.
Evidence proved these claims false. Oil residue and toxic dispersants contaminated much of the Gulf’s seafloor – perhaps lingering for decades or longer.
The Obama regime was complicit with BP in coverup and denying the disaster’s severity – perhaps the greatest every environmental crime.
Gulf contamination destroyed basic food chain elements, serving as building blocks for fisheries, birds, sea turtles and mammal populations.
Widespread coastal shorelines were polluted, causing a massive public health problem and irreparable harm to area residents.
A new study conducted by University of Southern Mississippi researchers discovered that lingering oil residues caused fundamental changes to microbes found on shipwrecks near the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
They’re vital in oceanic carbon dioxide absorption. They’re essential marine life food chain building blocks.
According to microbial ecologist Leila Hamdan, “(a)t the sites closest to the spill, biodiversity was flattened.”
“There were fewer types of microbes. This is a cold, dark environment and anything you put down there will be longer lasting than oil on a beach in Florida. It’s premature to imagine that all the effects of the spill are over and remediated.”
Devastation could be far more serious than earlier believed, Hamdan adding:
“We rely heavily on the ocean, and we could be looking at potential effects to the food supply down the road.”
“Deep sea microbes regulate carbon in the atmosphere and recycle nutrients. I’m concerned there will be larger consequences from this sort of event.”
On June 19 by executive order, Trump rescinded America’s oceans policy “to ensure the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems.”
References to “social justice,” “biological diversity,” and “conservation” were dropped – replaced by economic, global competitiveness, and security priorities called “foundational (to the) well-being of the United States.”
A White House statement said “President Trump is rolling back excessive bureaucracy created by the previous Administration.”
He ordered reorganization of the National Ocean Council and created a new “streamlined Ocean Policy Committee (that) will have a Subcommittee for Science and Technology and a Subcommittee for Resource Management.”
Last month, the Gulf Restoration Network, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming both agencies “failed for years to complete required consultations and reporting on the effects that oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could have on endangered species.”
“The Gulf has been treated as a sacrifice zone for corporate polluters for far too long,” said Sierra Club Land Protection Program director Athan Manuel, adding:
“We will not allow the Trump administration to ignore serious threats to coastal ecosystems in their reckless quest to sell off America’s waters to the fossil fuel industry for offshore drilling.”
According to marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, Trump’s June 19 executive order “represents a significant step backward, a throwback to the 1960s when the primary focus was on aggressively expanding the use of the ocean with the assumption that it is so immense, so bountiful that it must be inexhaustible.”
“We learned through painful experience that the ocean is indeed exhaustible, but we also learned that if we are smart about how we use the ocean, it can provide a wealth of benefits for decades and decades.”
Trump regime policies reject responsibility stewardship in favor of aggressive misuse of the nation’s waters – prioritizing corporate profit-making over public health and ecosanity.
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