YOUR CHOICE: THE CAPE COD WIND FARM OR GULF LEAKY OIL RIGS

Yesterday (April 28, 2010) we read in the NY Times that after a long delay, and much opposition, the Cape Cod Wind Farm proposal was finally passed (See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36825232/ns/us_news-environment/). Concurrently,(NYT April 29, 2010), we learn about an explosion and fire which consumed a Gulf of Mexico drilling rig. This exploratory oil rig, the very kind which we heard so much about in the last Presidential election, when someone in Ms. Palin's entourage offended us all with the phrase: “Drill Baby Drill”. The oil rig explosion, located about 50 miles off the Louisiana, occurred on April 20 and resulted in the rig sinking two days later taking the lives eleven workers. At the Cape, nothing much has happened, the "clean and green" project is still in the planning stages. The developers are hoping to begin construction this year and start generating power by late 2012 — provided the venture isn't stopped by further lawsuits.

But back in the Gulf of Mexico, the connector pipe to the sunken drilling platform, called a “riser”, which formerly conducted oil from the sea bottom to the floating platform continues to gusher crude as it snakes over the ocean bottom like a spouting garden hose. My wife questioned how a rigid steel pipe could "snake" around down there. But recall this pipe is close to a mile long! The explosion and subsequent disturbances have caused several kinks and tears to form from which oil is leaking in these several places over its 5000 foot length. The oil lighter than water rises to the surface and has continued to spread like the proverbial molasses on grandma’s white table cloth. The Times article also reveals today new information---the rate of flow from the pipe is five times greater than first reported!

According to the Times Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry of the Coast Guard revealed yesterday that scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have concluded that oil is gushing out at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day, not the 1,000 that had been estimated earlier. That volume is equal to 210,000 gallons a day (based on a 42 gal barrel) or almost 9,000 gallons a minute (or in metric terms 160 liters per barrel x 5000 = 80,000 liters/day). That amount is only a tiny fraction of the 21,000,000 barrels a day we use here in the USA, so the spill will cause no shortage for us. But at about $80 dollars a barrel (today’s prices) it represents a waste of $400,000 bucks a day for the BP oil company. However the real concern is not its cost or the wasted oil (though considerable) but the tragedy of lost lives, and the specter of the grave pollution effects. Where will the black pudding-like, stuff so toxic to fish, shellfish and marine mammals end up? Will it smear the white-sand beaches of Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida Gulf coasts, clog the fish and shellfish-producing marshes of Louisiana, and of Texas?

On April 26, 2010 Sky Truth (See http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/04/gulf-oil-spill-covers-817-square-miles.html.) using NASA imagery estimated that the spill covered an area of about 817 square miles. They report that the spill has an irregular serpentine shape and is surrounded by an "oil sheen" where oil and water are in intimate contact. An April 27th update of the image shows, according to Sky Truth that the spill has approximately doubled in area over the two days it was observed.

The NY Times reports that wind patterns may push the spill into the coast of Louisiana as soon as Friday night, prompting consideration of more urgent measures to protect coastal wildlife. Among them were using cannons to scare off birds, and employing local shrimpers’ boats as makeshift oil skimmers in the shallows. All this seems quite ineffective,in response to the massive spill.

The Times author's add that part of the oil slick was only 16 miles offshore and appears to be drifting toward the Mississippi River Delta, marshlands at the southeastern tip of Louisiana where the river empties into the ocean.

The column notes that on Wednesday evening, cleanup crews began conducting what is called an in-situ burn, a process consisting of corralling concentrated parts of the spill in a 500-foot-long fireproof boom, moving it to another location and burning it. It has been tested effectively on other spills, but weather and ecological concerns can complicate the procedure.

Such a process will simply convert sea-surface pollution into air pollution and other types of water pollution. But some think it better than the oil drifting ashore. If it were really possible to prevent the spill reaching shore...but by the way the oil is spreading...not much of it will be able to be burned. Burning works only when oil is corralled and remains at a certain thickness on the surface. Burns may not be effective for most of this spill, of which, 97 percent is estimated to be an oil-water mixture. And not to mention the added burden of more particulates and more CO2 in the atmosphere. Of course that’s where it would have all ended up anyway…so what?

It is well to note that the Gulf of Mexico is the site of nearly 4000 such oil rigs and platforms scattered across the coast from Texas to Florida and as we increase such activity (exploitation of oil) the potential for accidents like this will rise exponentially. This event presents us with something to think about with great circumspection after President Obama, (I thought) carelessly tossed a bone to his political opponents, when he proposed recently that we expand off shore oil drilling over all of the east coast of the US--where even oil impresario Bush kept it banned! Perhaps his proposal was in response to the “nipple heads” on the right who clamor “Drill Baby Drill” But this event presents us with a clear example of why such exploration was banned and presents us with a clear view of what the consequences of expanded drilling in the coastal zone may generate. Thus it may be a good time to remind our President, with a letter or FAX stating your objections and reminder of what such a spill could do along our eastern seaboard.

It may also bring those who oppose the installation of clean, renewable energy in the form of silent, clean, wind farms along our east coast a chance, to rethink their opposition. Thankfully, the Cape Cod Wind Farm proposal got its final approval. The juxtaposition of these two events is fortuitous in one way. Let’s use it to underscore the dangers of the silly "drill drill drill" crowd!

May 1, 2010 Update.

The gusher has continued unabated. There appears to be little hope the light sweet crude flowing at five thousand barrels a day into the Gulf could be stopped very soon. The volume of the spilled oil (so far) and the response brings to mind the Exxon Valdez disaster--thought to be the worst human caused disaster in history-- in Prince William Sound, Alaska. That spill, occurred when the Exxon Valdez tanker hit Bligh Reef and spilled nearly 250,000 barrels (fifty million liters or about 11 million gallons) of thick Prudhoe Bay crude. The oil covered nearly 1,300 square miles of of ocean surface.

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_1)

Thousands of animals died immediately; the best estimates include 100,000 to as many as 250,000seabirds, at least 2,800 sea otters, approximately 12 river otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles, and 22 orcas, as well as the destruction of billions of salmon and herring eggs.[4][12] The effects of the spill continue to be felt today. Overall reductions in population have been seen in various ocean animals, including stunted growth in pink salmon populations.[14] Sea otters and ducks also showed higher death rates in following years, partially because they ingested prey from contaminated soil and from ingestion of oil residues on hair due to grooming.[15]

Could the BP Oil Rig Disaster ever reach the level of the Exxon Valdez? It certainly appears possible from here. At this point (May 1, 2010) we now know that the well has been gushing 5000 barrels per day since April 20th. Thus, to date over an eleven day period (11) it has dumped 11 X 5000 or 55,000 barrels so far. To reach the level of the Valdez event it would have to continue gushing oil (5000 bbl/day x 50days = 250,000) for a period of fifty days at its present rate. It has continued unabated so far for eleven days---thus in 39 days (50-11=39) from this date..with no change in the rate of spill--it will have reached the Exxon Valdez in amount of oil spilled.

Today: According to the Associated Press as reprinted by Newser (http://www.newser.com/article/d9fe6gg80/expert-surface-area-of-gulf-oil-spill-has-tripled-rough-seas-again-thwart-containment.html)

The surface area of a catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill quickly tripled in size amid growing fears among experts that the slick could become vastly more devastating than it seemed just two days ago.

The slick nearly tripled in just a day or so, growing from a spill the size of Rhode Island to something closer to the size of Puerto Rico, according to images collected from mostly European satellites and analyzed by the University of Miami.

On Thursday, the size of the slick was about 1,150 square miles, but by Friday's end it was in the range of 3,850 square miles, said Hans Graber, executive director of the university's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. That suggests the oil has started spilling from the well more quickly, Graber said.

How big could it get?

This event has the potential to become one of the greatest environmental disasters ever...

Can it even be contained in the Gulf?

Some are concerned that natural ocean currents in the Gulf may wash the gooey stuff out through the Straits of Florida...sliming the the Keys and the only living coral reefs in the Northern Hemisphere.

Rjk

Afghanistan and Ancient Rome Study in Corruption

When a nation ceases to simply use its forces for defense and initiates wars of expansion..it sinks into depravity and corruption.

From the Washington Post

"Afghan corruption: How to follow the money?"

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 29, 2010

Hamed Wardak, the soft-spoken Georgetown University-educated son of an Afghan cabinet minister, has a Defense Department contract worth up to $360 million to transport U.S. military goods through some of the most insecure territory in Afghanistan. But his company has no trucks.

Instead, Wardak sits atop a murky pyramid of Afghan subcontractors who provide the vehicles and safeguard their passage. U.S. military officials say they are satisfied with the results, but they concede that they have little knowledge or control over where the money ends up.

According to senior Obama administration officials, some of it may be going to the Taliban, as part of a protection racket in which insurgents and local warlords are paid to allow the trucks unimpeded passage, often sending their own vehicles to accompany the convoys through their areas of control.

The essential question, said an American executive whose company does significant work in Afghanistan, is "whether you'd rather pay $1,000" for Afghans to safely deliver a truck, even if part of the money goes to the insurgents, or pay 10 times that much for security provided by the U.S. military or contractors.

The case of Gaius Verres. Roman governor of first century BC Sicily comes to mind as a case of notorious corruption. Gaius Verres was Roman governor of Sicily 73–71 BC. Gaius the son of a Roman Senator, used his family's contacts and position as well as bribery to become quaestor of Asia in 80 BC which permitted him to join the staff of Gnaeus Dolabella who had been appointed governor of Cilicia a Roman province. Verres avidly joined Dolabella in plundering the province. When Dolabella was recalled to Rome in 78 BC to face charges of embezzlement and mismanagement Verres turned against his former associate to gain a pardon for himself. With the aid of lavish bribes he secured the praetorship of Rome in 74 BC and used his position to advance the aims of his party and party leaders. As a reward he was offered the position of governor or Sicily where, recalling the methods he had practiced under Dolabella, he proceeded to plunder Sicily for his personal enrichment, in a way that was well beyond the typical self serving practices of many Roman governors of the time. His penchant for stealing art treasures from prominent Sicilians and Temples throughout the province led to a legal prosecution once his term was up. Back in Rome, Verres, faced with a contingent of angry Sicilians, used more chicanery and to attempt to avoid prosecution (charging his main accuosor as a fratricide) but in the he had to use some of his-ill gotten Sicilian assets to hire the top defense attorney of the day, one Quintus Hortensius, to defend him. The Sicilian victims of his brutal and corrupt practices turned to a youthful but brilliant Marcus Tullius Cicero to prosecute. Cicero’s first move was to suspend the case for over one-hundred days so as to offer opportunity to collect evidence on a trip to Sicily. After a successful trip and return voyage, Cicero, whose Verrine Orations have made Verres' crimes notorious, successfully prosecuted the tyrant. At the completion of Cicero’s early deposition Verres realized his lawyer would be unable to effectively counter the charges and fled before the end of the trail. He retired to Massilia where he kept much of his plundered treasures. These later attracted the greed of Mark Antony, and Verres was proscribed and murdered in 43)

Which brings to mind our sorry involment in Afghanistan. More than two-thousand years later we find that as the great Greek historian Thucydides who begins his history of the Peloponnesian War by stating that human nature is the basic cause of historical events and its study will be useful to those who wish to understand the way things happen, since events similar to those of the past will certainly recur in the future because human nature is unchanging. (Not that history repeats itself but that humans in similar circumstances will react in similar ways, even if separated over long periods of time.) Men and their behavior and thus history do not change.
All this to introduce a sorry tale. As our President prepares a massive buildup of military forces in Afghanistan..(January 2010) the a House Committee has launched an investigation into charges that the Defense Department (funded to the tune of nearly one trillion dollars annually) is paying off the Taliban (yes our stated enemy in Afghanistan) to protect American supply lines (See The Nation, January 11-18, 2010, pg 8). Did you read that right? Yes, US taxpayer dollars are going directly to the insurgents. The Defense Department pays out $2.2 billion dollars to trucking contractors who then use those funds to pay Taliban to protect out supply lines into and within Afghanistan. But worse than that, these contractors have hired Washington lobbyists—using those same DD funds to lobby the Congress to continue the war in Afghanistan. Hard to believe? Read it. See the Nation http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100111/roston.



From Politics Daily,David Wood, 12 21 09, (downloaded 4-28-10)

Separate from allegations about the Taliban and construction security, a House panel last week broadened its investigation into charges that private contractors paid off Taliban insurgents not to attack truck convoys carrying war materiel through Pakistan and into Afghanistan.

"Serious allegations have been brought to the subcommittee's attention that private security providers for U.S. transportation contractors in Afghanistan are regularly paying local warlords and the Taliban for security,'' said Rep. John F. Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee.

"If shown to be true, it would mean that the United States is unintentionally engaged in a vast protection racket and, as such, may be indirectly funding the very insurgents we are trying to fight,'' Tierney said.

Tierney's investigators have asked for Pentagon documents relating to a $2.2 billion contract with several trucking companies to carry goods into Afghanistan.

The Taliban-related allegation in eastern Afghanistan involves construction on a strategic road between Gardez and Khost, a route that runs over high mountains and directly through territory dominated by the Haqqani Taliban, one of the most ruthless of several Taliban subgroups.

The security contractor alleged that the Haqqani network, which provides foreign fighters from Pakistan for the security work on the roads, is paid tens of thousands of dollars in what amounts to a protection racket.

Hedge Garlic in the UK a Noxious Weed Here

It is April 2010 and our local roadsides, waste places and some untended gardens are sprouting with an prolific early-bloomer. It is an herbaceous plant of about a foot high (now) and has heart-shaped, deeply ridged, serrated-eddged leaves as well asa terminal rounded-cluster of four-petaled, white-flowers. Its crushed leaves give off a faint garlic aroma. Its flowers, seeds (in a long pod) indicate it is apparently a member of the mustard family.

Allaria petiolata is a native of Europe and in the UK it grows wild along the oh so common hegerows where is known a "Hedge Garlic" or "Garlic Mustard" or "Jack-in-the-Hedge". Sprouting in early spring, it is often picked as a salad green and used as a substitute for garlic. Its leaves are a component of a well known sauce for roast lamb, a pesto and other delicacies. See:http://www.wildyorkshire.co.uk/naturediary/docs/guest/garlic.html, and http://wildfoodmushroomsfishing.blogspot.com/2010/03/jack-by-hedge-or-garlic-mustard-chicken.html (dl 4-24-10)

Alas here in the US it is viewed very differently.

Alliaria petiolata is seen here as a class A noxious weed which grows in places it is not wanted whether sunny or shaded. It can self or cross polinate and like other mustards produces copious seeds which spread and sprout easily. Like other mustards it produces chemicals which act to inhibit the growth of rival plants or even beneficail soil fungi. Thus it can take over wide swaths of the forest floor where it gets established. (see photo at: http://wildfoodmushroomsfishing.blogspot.com/2010/03/jack-by-hedge-or-garlic-mustard-chicken.html.)

In the state of Washington it faces eradication where it shows its delicate white blooms.

"History and Impacts.

Garlic mustard is an invasive non-native biennial herb that spreads by seed. It is difficult to control once it has reached a site; it can cross-pollinate or self-pollinate, it has a high seed production rate, it out competes native vegetation and it can establish in a relatively stable forest understory. It can grow in dense shade or sunny sites. The fact that it is self fertile means that one plant can occupy a site and produce a seed bank. Plant stands can produce more than 62,000 seeds per square meter to quickly out compete local flora, changing the structure of plant communities on the forest floor. Garlic mustard is also allelopathic, producing chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants and mychorrizal fungi needed for healthy tree growth and tree seedling survival." (dl 4-24-10: http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsandplants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/garlic-mustard.aspx)

From the same site, also learn that: "Garlic mustard is a biennial herb that grows to about 3 feet tall. The small, white 4-petaled flowers appear in early spring and seed production soon follows. Seedlings develop into basal rosettes by mid summer. The plants overwinter as a basal rosette with kidney-shaped leaves. When the plants bolt in early spring, the mature leaves are triangular, becoming smaller toward the top of the plant. In early spring the roots and new leaves smell like garlic. Each plant usually produces one flowering stem. If a plant is cut or stepped on, many stems will form. Roots typically have a characteristic s-shaped bend that helps the plant hold on to the soil even on steep slopes with loose soil. Garlic mustard is competitive in a wide range of soils, sun, shade and moisture. It grows in wet soil near creeks and on dry, steep slopes. It can grow under the shade of other plants like nettles or in bright sunny spots. Flowering plants range in size from several feet tall to tiny plants with just a few seed pods. Seeds can last in the soil for at least 10 years."