environment: British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Tony Hayward
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 24: No Excuses!
More on the same theme; this one goes to Time Magazine, which ran an article a few days back:
…independent scientists studying the video and measuring the growing slick at the surface suggested it could be five to 16 times that rate, or even greater if one took into account the enormous, hidden plumes of oil recently discovered under the sea — one such plume measured 10 miles long. Nonetheless, BP CEO Tony Hayward told Britain’s Sky News on Tuesday morning that he didn’t think the spill would seriously hurt the Gulf ecosystem. “Everything we can see at the moment suggests that the overall environmental impact will be very, very modest,” he said.
Tony Hayward is a disgrace to the human race.
British Petroleum is gradually acknowledging that its original estimate of oil flow from the wreck of the Deepwater horizon might just be a tad low. Since determination of liability is based on the amount of oil that has entered the ocean, the corporation’s financial interests are well-served by ambiguous measurements. BP and its co-conspirators Halliburton and Transocean will not extend themselves to the maximum in remediating the effects of their negligence without forceful persuasion from the administration. Severe financial penalties and the possibility of debarment from future government contracts would at least be a start on altering the behavior of one of the world’s worst environmental criminals. But the lessons to be learned from this disaster do not stop at the need to levy severe damages on the responsible parties. America must move rapidly toward a new energy economy which will use the absolute minimum of fossil fuels. From the environmental devastation in the Gulf to the mine tragedy in West Virginia, we can see all around us the catastrophic results of our addiction to oil and coal. We can no longer afford “cheap” energy.
Warren Senders
Education Indian music music: layakari practice riyaaz
by Warren
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Layakari Practice: The N+1 Game
Here’s another installment in my series of practice materials. This is another approach to the mastery of layakari in the 16-beat teentaal cycle. I call this the N+1 Game.
The object of this exercise is to explore a rich yet tightly constrained set of melodic materials in a variety of rhythmic phrasings. The same melody is sung in thirty-six slightly different rhythmic variations, each one fitting neatly into one cycle of teentaal.
environment Politics: Barack Obama Deepwater Horizon
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 23: Multitasking is Necessary!
Yesterday’s letter was primarily to Ed Markey and secondarily to the President, so I’ve sent him another one for Sunday. More on the Deepwater Horizon — truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Dear President Obama,
The ongoing tragedy of the Gulf of Mexico calls for aggressive governmental action in multiple areas.
We must move rapidly to contain the spill, which is fouling the Gulf with catastrophic implications for human and animal populations. The public statements made by British Petroleum spokespersons suggest that the corporation at fault for the disaster has failed to take its responsibilities seriously. This cannot be allowed to continue.
We must move rapidly to determine the magnitude of the catastrophe. B.P. is again acting in bad faith, as demonstrated by their refusal to allow scientists to conduct accurate measurements of the leak. Since assessment of liability is contingent on the amount of the spill, they stand to save many millions of dollars by relying on an estimated flow rate that is several orders of magnitude too low. This, too, cannot be allowed. Your administration needs to be very forthright in asserting that B.P.’s estimates are no longer considered valid.
We must uncover the cause of the tragedy. At least three different corporations behaved irresponsibly in the leadup to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and their subsequent behavior is further demonstration that in this case, We The People have absolutely no reason to trust these companies and their representatives to tell the truth. BP, Transocean, and Halliburton have killed eleven people and are now putting the lives of millions more at risk. Prosecutions with stiff penalties are called for.
And finally, we must move rapidly to get America and the world off fossil fuels completely. The threats of global warming, arctic methane release and oceanic acidification are all brought about by our destructive habits of taking carbon out of the ground and putting it in the atmosphere. America needs a crash program to develop renewable energy sources, and we need it yesterday.
There is no time to waste. The Gulf of Mexico is yet another “canary in the coalmine” — but the way we are going, it’s not going to be long before all the canaries are dead. Mr. President, we elected you to be a leader. Please lead.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
Jazz music: Billie Holiday genius
by Warren
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Billie Holiday, Just Because…
“The Blues Are Brewing” with Louis Armstrong
Billie Holiday (born Elinore Harris;[1] April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day[2] by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Above all, she was admired all over the world for her deeply personal and intimate approach to singing.
Critic John Bush wrote that she “changed the art of American pop vocals forever.”[3] She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably “God Bless the Child”, “Don’t Explain”, “Fine and Mellow”, and “Lady Sings the Blues”. She also became famous for singing jazz standards including “Easy Living” and “Strange Fruit”.
environment: British Petroleum criminal irresponsibility Deepwater Horizon
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 22: I Hate These People
It turns out, not to my surprise, that BP has a strong financial interest in preventing accurate measurements of the underwater gusher that is currently destroying the Gulf.
BP’s estimate that only 5,000 barrels of oil are leaking daily from a well in the Gulf of Mexico, which the Obama administration hasn’t disputed, could save the company millions of dollars in damages when the financial impact of the spill is resolved in court, legal experts say.
Sounds like the Obama administration should be doing some disputing, don’t you think? I’m sending one copy of this letter to Ed Markey, and one to the President.
Dear Representative Markey/President Obama —
A recent article from McClatchey Newspapers points out that by grossly underestimating the volume of oil issuing from the undersea openings in the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum stands to save many millions of dollars. When BP refuses to allow scientists to take accurate flow measurements of the underwater spill, they claim that this is rooted in expediency: they’re “more focused on getting the spill stopped” than on measuring its output.
But BP’s own regional plan for dealing with offshore leaks explicitly states that “In the event of a significant release of oil, an accurate estimation of the spill’s total volume … is essential in providing preliminary data to plan and initiate cleanup operations.”
By blocking specialists from obtaining this data, and by providing a low-ball estimate to the public and the US Government, the management of what is now on track to be the world’s biggest polluter is ensuring that it will never be held adequately accountable for its irresponsibility and criminal negligence.
To me, this has all the earmarks of a criminal conspiracy, perhaps prosecutable under RICO.
I implore you to put this issue front and center in your dealings with the responsible parties. They must not be allowed to get away with this.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
I’m putting this letter out now because I’m going to be away from the computer until Saturday night (family emergency).
environment Politics: LA Times National Academy of Science
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 21: Can We Get It Together In Time?
The report from the National Academy of Science is now out, and it’s very forthright: we’ve gotta get our shit together, and quickly, or we’re in for a world of hurt. We’ll be in for a world of hurt anyway, but if we begin thinking hard about what to do, it’ll hurt less.
The linked article is from the L.A. Times, so I wrote them a letter.
The National Academy of Science report on climate change should convince any remaining denialists that the costs of inaction far outweigh those of action. America and the world simply cannot afford to put this problem off any longer. Higher gas prices may be politically unpopular, but it may the only way we break free of our addiction to oil. Make no mistake about it: fossil fuels are far from cheap. Factor in the costs of cleaning up spills, of countless cases of black lung, of smog, asthma, toxic wastes, and oil wars, and the price per energy unit suddenly goes way up. When we include global climate change in our assessment, oil and coal are revealed as the most expensive energy sources we have. The NAS Report confirms, with unimpeachable science, that we need to act rapidly, forthrightly, and energetically. The time is past for allowing political exigencies to dictate to us in a matter of global survival.
Warren Senders
environment: EPA Mountaintop Removal
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 20: MTR-FKR?
The EPA is collecting comments on a proposed mountaintop removal site. It would be a good idea to go to this piece on DK in order to familiarize yourself with the process; it’s worth the trouble. We have got to get off the fossil fuel habit.
Here’s the comment I submitted as an email. See my note below the block for a supplemental note.
I am writing to urge the EPA to veto the proposed surface mining operations at the Spruce No. 1 Mine. There are multiple reasons for this.
The mining industry is not in compliance with federal law regarding reclamation of Mountaintop Removal sites. While a federal statute exempts them from restoring the land to its “original contour” if the land is developed for “industrial, commercial, residential or public use,” a recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council shows that a very small percentage of the MTR sites are reclaimed. The vast majority are barren, dead, denuded.
When forests are cut down, we lose the benefit of the carbon they store. Greenhouse emissions related to MTR operations add almost twenty percent to the coal’s carbon footprint. When we are finally recognizing that excess CO2 emissions have the potential to trigger catastrophic global warming scenarios, it is the height of destructive folly to destroy a “carbon sink” in order to access coal.
Mountaintop removal is recognized to bring about devastating effects both on local ecosystems and human communities. Coal companies have a terrible track record of reclamation, as noted above — and the MTR processes leave huge areas open to massively destructive erosion, fouling of waterways, and poisonous waste deposits that have profound impacts on the health of residents.
Mining companies have terrible human rights records. For over a century, coal mining operations have routinely given pride of place to profit rather than worker safety. The violations committed by Massey Coal are just the most egregious example of what is essentially an industry tradition; when an industry treats its workers as expendable, we should not be surprised when it also treats local residents, local ecosystems, and public opinion as irrelevant.
When the true costs of fossil fuels are considered, the notion that coal is cheap is revealed as illusory. We can no longer afford such fantasies; coal is one of the most expensive fuels we’ve got — it’s just that our grandchildren are going to be paying for our prodigality. It is vital that the EPA refuse to give the go-ahead to mountaintop removal mining at the Spruce Number One site.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
The Regulations.gov site has a comment submission form with a 2000 character limit, so I had to edit the piece above (which went as an email to ow-docket@epamail.epa.gov) a little bit to make it fit. Once the form was submitted my writing went off into space. Who knows if it’s ever going to surface again?
environment Politics: assholes Deepwater Horizon fishing Gulf of Mexico Lisa Murkowski offshore drilling Transocean
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 19: Dunk ’em All!
Back to the Gulf. The Boston Herald printed an AP article on the effects of the spill on the fishing industry, so I used that as the hook for a short and vicious little rant. Will they print it? Ha.
Oil gushes from a hole in the ocean floor; British Petroleum won’t let scientists measure the flow, although estimates go up to 80,000 barrels a day (almost 3.5 million gallons). While the corporations involved in the disaster point fingers at one another, and Republican senators block legislation raising the liability cap, there’s a different sort of buck-passing going on outside the hearing rooms of Congress: Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, just announced that it would give its shareholders a billion dollars in dividends (that’s twice the amount BP has spent thus far on this crisis). Meanwhile, tar balls wash ashore, the ocean is saturated with oil and toxic dispersants, and communities and industries that depend on the Gulf of Mexico are devastated. Will Big Oil and the politicians they’ve bought ever recognize that their responsibilities go beyond maximizing shareholder return on investment? Don’t bet on it.
Warren Senders
environment: Howard Kurtz media washington post
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 18: This Kurtz Me More Than It Kurtz You
I got tired of writing about the damned Deepwater Horizon. How many times can you say “they’re killing us!” before it gets old? So I went hunting for something new to engage my monkey mind, and A Siegel delivered, with a piece highlighting the blinkered behavior of our national media, as exemplified by the “coverage of the coverage” carried out by Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz.
Kurtz noticed that the media didn’t treat the Southern storms as nationally relevant….but it didn’t occur to him that things can be localized in time as well as space.
If the media ignores Tennessee and Kentucky because of their location and demographics, then it’s a case of Elite Liberals Ignoring The Real Americans. Witness Kurtz’ interviewee Bob Sellers, talking about media coverage of the floods:
“On that side of the Hudson, they really lose sight of the rest of the country,” says Sellers, who grew up in Kentucky. “They view it as flyover country. . . . There’s just a feeling among folks here, ‘Look at what the national media are talking about, they’re not giving any attention to this.’ ”
But when they fail to connect the temporal and climatic dots, the media become Enablers of Disaster. Which, needless to say, was something Howard Kurtz didn’t notice at all.
So:
Howard Kurtz has it half right: media coverage of extreme weather is both geographically and climatically parochial, never mentioning that such events are getting more severe and more frequent — and that climate scientists have been predicting this for years. It’s simple enough: if the climate gets warmer there will be more evaporation, which means more moisture in the air, which means that there will be more and heavier storms. Global warming is real; it is dangerous; it is human-caused — and Nashville’s flooded neighborhoods are genuine evidence of it. Climatologists said it was going to happen just like this, and the media disgracefully ignored them. By treating freak weather events as isolated from one another and from the larger trend of increasing precipitation, the news establishment becomes complicit in keeping Americans unaware of the gravest threat humanity has ever faced. We can no longer afford to remain ignorant.
Warren Senders
environment: British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon LA Times
by Warren
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Month 5, Day 17: I’m Glad I’m Not Plankton
The latest news from the Gulf is that lots of the oil has been whacked by huge quantities of toxic dispersants, which appear to be making it vanish from the surface, but collect somewhere below. Meanwhile, oil gushing out of the pipe on the ocean floor is collecting in enormous blobs that are going to wipe out entire ecosystems. The LA Times did a little piece about it, so I wrote them a little letter.
While British Petroleum claims success at trapping a fraction of the oil pouring out of its broken pipe, it has steadily refused requests from scientists who want to obtain accurate measurements of the flow. It’s not hard to see why: BP will be liable for massive cleanup expenses, and ambiguous measurements are in their corporate self-interest. The corporation’s estimates are almost certainly an order of magnitude too low. As Boxall and Semuels point out, much of the resulting pollution appears to be remaining below the surface, where it is likely to decimate the extraordinary aquatic life of the Gulf of Mexico’s unique ecosystems. Recovery may take decades, if it happens at all — and what price can be put on vulnerable ecosystems? The whole catastrophe illuminates a simple fact: if the price of oil included the cost of cleaning up after a disaster, there would be no such thing as cheap gasoline.
Warren Senders