Scientists Accuse Obama over Oil Spill

From the New York Times:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37248587/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

"The scientists point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean.

And the scientists say the administration has been too reluctant to demand an accurate analysis of how many gallons of oil are flowing into the sea from the gushing oil well.

“It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled,” Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer, said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “It seems baffling that we don’t know where the oil is in the water column.”

...............

'Hide the body'
Oceanographers have also criticized the Obama administration over its reluctance to force BP, the oil company responsible for the spill, to permit an accurate calculation of the flow rate from the undersea well. The company has refused to permit scientists to send equipment to the ocean floor that would establish the rate with high accuracy.

Ian MacDonald of Florida State University, an oceanographer who was among the first to question the official estimate of 210,000 gallons a day, said he had come to the conclusion that the oil company was bent on obstructing any accurate calculation. “They want to hide the body,” he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37248587/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

that many of these scientists want larger teams of scientists to be given grants to head to the Gulf.

There are already 20,000 people working on the problem.

Atfer a month of testing?

We now know that the amount being released into the ocean is AT LEAST tten times what has been reported for weeks.

But that info came from independent observers, not the government,

maybe we have 20,000 of the wrong heads, under the wrong directives, with the wrong priorities, and for the wrong purposes. Maybe not but we can neither get a straight story or results so it sure looks like time to stop doing the same thing every day hoping for different results.

BP ain't handling it, bottom line. Too much is at stake for pussyfooting around with a bunch of shortcutting, lying, robberbarons trying to limit their liability and cover their asses.

That is a new low, even for you.

Please provide the "evidence" that you so often demand from others..

Got any? a listing of the available grants would be a good place to start.

Republicans trolling by, I can understand.

But Folks who are supposed to be regulars here on DU,
pushing that shit.......I don't quite get it.

If this shit could have been stopped by now, it would have.

This man doesn't walk on water, and he sure in the fuck
doesn't have the technology to go down 5,000 feet under.....
if folks didn't know.

Guess when a meteor hits, it will be his fucking fault too....

and still even considering more of an activity that poses risks that can't be contained with our level of technology.

I also don't see how anyone isn't absolute desperate to stop the bleeding at least here. Clearly, BP is not getting the job done and worse has obviously been lying their asses off about what has happened and sure as hell how much oil is gushing out down there.

Don't you think something has to give here and that maybe somewhere in the world there are more competent and much less compromised folks that might be able to get a better handle on the true depth of the issue and maybe, just maybe, some real solutions tot he oil flow that aren't (hopefully) a month or two away?

You can't possibly see the death and destruction or think about the destruction off those reefs, barrier islands, and marsh maybe forever and sit back comfortably thinking "BP has got this". Its almost like you are more bothered by questions, criticisms, and calls for action toward Obama than the catastrophe it's self.

THIS IS A BIG FUCKING DEAL!

Obama is starting to get heat for giving BP the ball and letting them call all the plays.
That only has so much of a shelf life and at some point he is obligated to change horses, how are you or anyone going to get upset that folks are running out of patience for the way this is being handled? Especially, with the lies and the sloppy and careless practices and horrible attitude BP has proudly run with.

Anybody that trust BP is a fucking Bozo, including the President.

Would you advise Obama to bet his Presidency on BP's handling of this crisis? Because if not its getting real close to time to bust a move in another direction as far as overseeing this operation.
They can continue with the relief wells but the time we can fuck around with them calling the shots without Obama going down with them is running out.

The technology to get to that depth does exist, and it has been around for quite a while:
n.b., http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8422 .

Also, the Mariana Trench is a lot further down than BP's well, and people have explored the Mariana Trench:
n.b., http://www.bathyscaphetrieste.com
and http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06fire/background/marianaarc/marianaarc.html .

So, is it Obama's Katrina? No. However, the technology does exist to reach the depth of the well.

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=6443683">A thought about context and the constructiveness of criticism.

how the EPA is dealing with this and the dispersant issue?

And really think the administration is on top of BP with the lies about flow rate and other issues?

You CANNOT defend Obama no matter what and have any credibility at some point.

Wow, everyone here who makes a valid point against Obama is wrong according to you.

They approved the dispersant because BP lied and then unapproved them a week later after scientists said they were harmful. Why not get input before approving them.

and..

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Rosa Luxemburg (Rosalia Luxemburg, Polish: Róża Luksemburg; 5 March 1871<1> – 15 January 1919) was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen. She was successively a member of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, the German SPD, the Independent Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Germany.

In 1915, after the SPD supported German involvement in World War I, she co-founded, with Karl Liebknecht, the anti-war Spartakusbund (Spartacist League). On 1 January 1919 the Spartacist League became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In November 1918, during the German Revolution she founded the Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag), the central organ of the Spartacist movement.

She regarded the Spartacist uprising of January 1919 in Berlin as a blunder,<2> but supported it after Liebknecht ordered it without her knowledge. When the revolt was crushed by the social democrat government and the Freikorps (WWI veterans defending the Weimar Republic), Luxemburg, Liebknecht and some of their supporters were captured and executed. After their deaths, Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht became martyrs for Marxists. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, commemoration of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht continues to play an important role among the German far-left.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg

Go listen to the head of the Coast Guard effort (really impressive and amazingly competent ... wow, he made it so clear that the US does NOT have the equipment, the oil companies are the only ones who have anything that can be used to attempt stopping this thing).

If these posters who think that the President and national / state / local public officials are hanging back would open their eyes and look around, there is no rational support for believing any are anything but supportive and even Republicans are on board.

(Note to self: refrain from obscene language.)

Now I'd be happy to join in any expressions of contempt for the Bush appointee mining officials and executive staff who approved this stuff and swap conspiracy theories ... but, after the spill, just plain beyond not interested in such theories and think they are totally specious.

It's OUR Gulf, not "BP's" gulf, beaches, wildlife and livelihoods. They DO NOT have anyone's "best interest at heart" but their own. Pumping toxic dispersants into the sea when HAY works better? :wtf: It's past time that Obama put some ADULTS on the job and stopped the f*cking gusher!

It's staggering that they have any control in the matter.:mad:

"As simple as it may seem, the law prevents the government from just taking over, Allen said. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Congress dictated that oil companies be responsible for dealing with major accidents — including paying for all cleanup — with oversight by federal agencies."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100522/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_618

I don't know what the legal situation is,.

But with a calamity of this magnitude, I hope someone is looking into EVERY option.

His supporters are fast becoming his enemies because of his trust in BP.
From all the evidence BP is an incompetant, lax, unrepentant, arrogant corporation who knows the laws protect them from any serious repercussions.

This could be a real turning point for his presidency. He will have to play defensive from now on.

It is not Obama's fault although you want it to be the case don't you?

get foreign assistance, fucking do anything besides covering for BP and trusting their lies.

the usual suspects were never his supporters.

of damage control to its reputation and bottom line.