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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBREAKING: Storm hits Mayflower, Arkansas site of Exxon oil spill.
Contaminated water pumped into Lake Conway as citizen journalists report live.A manmade disaster was made even worse by nature Wednesday night, as a severe thunderstorm hit Mayflower, Arkansas spreading the Exxon Mobil oil spill to the yards of homes along the cove and the main body of Lake Conway. For nearly two weeks, Exxon has maintained that oil has not reached Lake Conway, despite clear evidence both from aerial video and on-the-ground guerrilla reporting that showed oil had spread throughout a cove and wetlands, which are connected through ground water and drainage culverts to the main body of the lake. Images captured Wednesday night should put any doubt to rest that the main body of Lake Conway is now contaminated with oil.
Citizen journalists, Jak and Lauren, reporting for Tar Sands Blockade, braved the severe weather Wednesday, which included hail, lighting and chance of tornados, to report on what was happening to the site of the oil spill.
Using the live video streaming service, UStream, Jak and Lauren broadcast from multiple locations, including the contaminated cove, Highway 89 that separates the cove and Lake Conway and the wetlands that were first documented in the now viral Tar Sands Blockade video.
A couple pieces of important news were reported by the duo Wednesday night. Their footage is not currently available to embed, but I took screenshots of their live broadcast to show what they were witnessing. I'll embed the video when it becomes available.
http://www.treehugger.com/energy-disasters/happening-now-storm-hits-mayflower-arkansas-causing-exxons-oil-spill-spread-yards-and-lake-conway.html
AndyA
(16,993 posts)Why are the oil companies allowed to run the show when an accident happens? BP did the same thing after the catastrophe in the Gulf a few years back.
It's time that corporate America stops running the country!
valerief
(53,235 posts)Divernan
(15,480 posts)SO OF COURSE IT'S SPREAD TO LAKE CONWAY!
TheMadMonk
(6,187 posts)...down the line.
After all those drains are almost certainly already compromised.
When cleaning up oil on a non-porous surface, best thing is to get under it with water ASAP. To consolidate it as much as possible.
As bad as it looked, done properly it's actually good practice. I won't say best practice, because best practice is to not spill the crud in the first place.
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)Bitumen:
a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a residue from petroleum distillation. It is used for road surfacing and roofing.
OIL floats this toxic crap does not.
TheMadMonk
(6,187 posts)...limiting the time in contact with surfaces, and the simple inescapable fact that water and hydrocarbons are imiscible.
Brooming, shoveling, or any other mechanical method applied to bulk bitumenous materials would just create a bigger mess.
Driving it into a confined location with high pressure water is about as good as it gets on a hard surface. PROVIDED, and I stress, provided the proper downstream precautions are in place.
It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that the bloke coming along behind was using steam.
Even on soil, if quick enough you'd probably be better off using water than earthmoving equipment for the first pass at least.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Mayflower community for GAWD being angry at them.
woodsprite
(11,902 posts)LuvNewcastle
(16,834 posts)I swear, Bounty must be making a killing off of Exxon right now.
mountain grammy
(26,598 posts)It's all good, a few get richer, and look at all the jobs they're creating.
LuvNewcastle
(16,834 posts)DirtyDawg
(802 posts)...that nobody, at least that I've heard, on MSNBC has pointed out the irony of these 'cleanup' efforts using paper towels in the hope/belief that they'll soak up some of this crap. The irony being, and my guess, that they're using Brawny since its made by Georgia Pacific - a Koch Company - and whataya bet the Kochs ain't giving em a discount?
Hotler
(11,392 posts)Oh! I forgot that the corporations run this country. If only we had a president with a spine and some fight.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)If I dumped a toxic material on my yard and the yards of my neighbors, do you think I'd be able to lie about it? How long until the city comes out with the police and arrests me?
And how much in fines would I be paying when I got out of jail?
What makes corporations like Exxon think it can do what it wants with the planet?
johnnyreb
(915 posts)Maybe the residents should do that! All grab a quart of store-bought oil and all together pour it on their yards in violation of law for the cameras.
SunSeeker
(51,504 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)the peak of tornado season