Thanks to everyone on Team Bill and Team Eric for your incredible generosity in the Battle of the Fang!
Oil spill in Louisiana waters
Misleading information about how much oil is in the Gulf of Mexico is traced to a government scientific report released without peer review, reports Mother Jones.
“Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee … said the report had given ‘many people a false sense of confidence regarding the state of the Gulf’ and should not have been released until it was complete. ‘If you are not confident it was right, it shouldn’t have been released … That is obviously of great concern to people in the Gulf. They don’t want to be forgotten. They don’t want this to be downplayed or low-balled, which is the case in some quarters since this has been released.’”
It turns out there’s more oil in the Gulf than the incomplete government report indicated, and it’s far more toxic than reported.
“Scientists at the University of Georgia have found that the vast majority of the oil is still in the water. Scientists from the University of South Florida have a new study finding that the oil suspended underwater may be more toxic to microorganisms in the Gulf than researchers previously thought. And researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution released yet another study contradicting government reports. Theirs found that not only is the dispersed oil hanging in a 22-mile-long, one-mile-wide plume, it’s also degrading much more slowly in the plumes than it would at the surface. ‘The plumes could stick around for quite a while,’ study co-author Ben Van Mooy told the AP. (The government’s top scientists, meanwhile, have claimed that the oil in the Gulf is degrading rapidly.)”
See what Ahm doin,' Sheriff? I'm walkin' away with yoah lead.
This is why we’re asking you to please donate to GulfAid because the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast will need our help for years to come. Together we’ve donated serious money to a problem that needs serious solutions and we’re so proud of all of you for helping so generously.
TEAM BILL=$15,969 – TEAM ERIC=$14,725
REMEMBER! The EBay auction for the “Sock of Destiny” and Steve’s season three/episode 12 script signed by the cast to benefit GulfAid is underway! Get in there and bid on these singular souvenirs before it’s too late!
Plus, we’ll give away the signed DVD set for season one and the signed DVD set for season two after the contest ends to randomly selected donors!
Those dastardly Viking hordes!!!!!! We need to pillage them!
OH NO GO VIKINGS!!!!!!
Pillage, indeed :)! Go Team Bill. Go!!!!!
NOOOO!!! Go Team Bill! Bill’s home, Bill’s team! :-P
What concerns me most are comments I’ve read or been told about from Truebies who believe the oil in the Gulf is gone and there’s no problem. That’s the reason for today’s update and why I posted the important stuff at the top. I do hope y’all will read it and consider making a donation to GulfAid. We can’t forget.
Hear hear! Thanks for the informative posts NH, you do them so darned well.
Both teams’ charities are worthwhile. Thanks to everyone who’s donated to either or to both.
Yes thank you! both very worthwhile charities, the gulf relief and children without families. So YES to both!!!
You’re right the oil is still here and the government is trying to convince us other wise. “No worries! the oil is gone! Eat all the sea food from the gulf.” Do they really think we’re that stupid? Between the oil and the chemicals they used to break it up; there’s no way it could be safe. The Gulf Coast is dead. No more food from these waters for at least 20 years, if then. We here on the coast were just starting to stand up after Katrina, and now we get hit with this. My work place is cutting hours and if things don’t improve in 9 weeks, I could be out of a job. I don’t work in the seafood industry so I don’t think BP will be willy to help me? I doubt it but they’re the ones to blame. Having said all this, I’m on team Eric. I have donated to Gulf Aid; I just didn’t let it tally on Bill side. Go team Eric!!
I’m setting up posts on @BillsBelles to get those $ amounts up right until the last minute. Keep me posted if you need anything.
You’re the sweetest person there is! YAY for Bill’s Belles!!!!!
Thank you, ma’m. Bills Belles rock the bonerpants!
Ah, sweet Bill’s Belles. Serving the cause and generally being amusing and awesome, thank you!
Thanks Shannon … Since we were originally Bill’s Belle’s before we became Bill’s Wiki’d Women, we’ll always hold our fellow Belles close. Thank you for all your help and being part of the Team Bill crusade.
Bill’s Belle’s are the keepers of the Boner Pants! :D
I love the term “Bills Belles” but I’m not aware of their site…can someone direct me to it?
http://billsbelles.wordpress.com/ – you’ll love the interviews with Twitter characters and stay alert for @VampireBill. He’s the yummiest.
Is it wrong that I want BP to foot the bill for EVERY LAST CENT of the environmental and community damages caused by THEIR MESS, right out of THEIR OWN greedy and obscenely deep pockets for as long as it takes to FIX IT?
Because I do. And my understanding is that the government has every intention of holding them financially accountable for it. As well they should.
BP is not addressing the long term protection of our wetlands, nor “every last cent” of damage. You may want that – but it’s not happening. I suggest you spend some time down here if you have the opportunity.
One of my recent posts was about how BP is quietly getting rid of all their clean up teams on the Gulf Coast. 10,000 were fired right after Bonnie passed through, and orders are for skeleton crews by the end of September. Meanwhile the NRDC reported last Friday that five more Florida beaches were closed because of oil. BP has no intention of cleaning up the mess they’ve made of an enormously important ecosystem. Our government can’t hold their feet to the fire because just about every elected official, starting with the president, takes oil money for their campaigns.
It’s not just BP’s mess. It’s your mess and my mess because we cannot break our dependence on fossil fuels. We’re all culpable; BP just pulled the trigger.
The only way we can make this better is to do it ourselves. If we wait for BP or any other mega-corporation to do the right thing we’ll run ourselves out of planet.
aman
I have a long list of both friends and family who reside on the Gulf Coast– a number of whom I visit regularly. And as an informed citizen, I am more than aware of the many serious environmental and economic challenges this area faces.
Go Team Bill :)
go bill go!!!!!!
If ever there was a good way to channel the team bill versus team eric tension this is it! Stand up for your vamp ladies! Let the best fangs win!
Go Team Bill!!!
;)
is that a new kind of Viking Attack or something?