Olbermann: Gulf Human Health Crisis Explodes - "Corps. Don't Mind Repeating History, It's Cheaper"

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 08:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bRRze-sz1k   Posted on YouTube: July 10, 2010 By YouTube Member: FixedNewsChannel Views on YouTube: 69   Posted on DU: July 10, 2010 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 872

 
MSNBC Countdown w/ KEITH OLBERMANN - 9 July 2010: 81 after Deepwater Horizon sank into Gulf, 20 percent of clean-up workers working offshore have been exposed to twice the CDC's toxicity limit of a potentially hazardous chemical contained in BP's more-toxic-than-approved dispersants, which can be breathed in - according to Greenwire on BP's monitoring data - even after environmentalists testified to Congress that dispersants make it harder to remove oil from the water and seem to serve to hide the oil from the public.

PART TWO HERE: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=483406&mesg_id=483406

Interview with MaryLee Orr, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, part of the coalition behind BP Makes Me Sick.com:

ORR: "Keith, I wish I could say I was surprised (about the toxicity monitoring data). I wish I could say I was shocked, but considering that we've been talking to Alaskan fishermen, the Waterkeeper Alliance... telling us that these chemicals are very toxic and can make you very sick, unfortunately, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised at all."

OLBERMANN: "Why don't the workers have respirators now? We've been talking about this for almost the length of this, the time of the attempt to clean this up?"

ORR: "I believe it's a liability issue. They're saying that they're not finding anything in the air that needs the use of a respirator. We feel that a worker has the right to choose rather or not they use a respirator. A lot of our fishers who are out there say they are smelling things, they're getting sick."

- snip -

They'll make sure that my workplace is safe. They feel like they have not been aggressive enough in addressing this issue. As we know, BP has not been transparent about And we have 1.72 million gallons of dispersant, we have a world record, in our beloved Gulf, so I think, morally, you know, maybe that's a question for their conscience, but, legally, I think that will certainly talked about in the courts. Folks should have stepped up earlier. And certainly, here we are, 81 or days, Keith, you can remind me 'cause I've been doing this 24 hours a day it seems since it started. We've been talking about the respirator issue, and we're still talking about it, and our folks are still not allowed to use it. They're told that they'll be reassigned or they'll be fired if they use protective gear.

- snip -

It's not just the respirators, but other gear, as well, but, unfortunately, they're afraid. They're afraid that they're going to lose their job. They won't be able to feed their families, so, we become their voice. And that's why BPmakesmesick.com is so important... We've had a thousand people an hour sign up to say that they want these folks to be able to choose whether or not they have a respirator. Can you believe that? It's a wonderful feeling, more than 40,000 people from around the United States are saying let's keep these people safe so they can go home to their families and be safe.

And not be like the lesson that we learned in Alaska, where people are still ill, the lesson that we learned in 9/11. I mean, I wonder, we do not want history to keep repeating itself..."

OLBERMANN: "Corporations don't mind if we repeat history, because it's cheaper that way."


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[tnlefty]

1. Thanks for this Hissyspit!

And may I channel my Mike Malloy in stating, 'how much I hate these bastards.'

[TheEuclideanOne]

2. Stories like this make me feel proud to be a Democrat

I really can not understand how the administration has not forced the hand of BP to stop using dispersants or to keep the workiers safe. I just don't understand it. These issues are low hanging fruit in terms of accomplishments, IMHO. But what makes me proud is, as a party, we do not just go along with whatever the administration does, as much as we are all pulling for them. I think that we all want them to do the right thing and feel shame when they do not, but most importantly we try to hold them accountable when they are wrong.

[Stardust]

3. My jaw dropped when Keith said that. We've come to expect this kind of

reaction from the capitalist corporations but I can't for the life of me understand why Obama hasn't put his foot down about respirators for the workers and the toxic dispersant that's further polluting the Gulf and poisoning the workers as well. Remember when Obama said, "Enough!?" Was it just an act? Can he really be that cowardly?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. K & R

[ProfessorPlum]

5. thank you for the post

great information, and clearly this woman and Keith have their hearts in the right place.

KO must not have taken many chemistry classes, though. It is pronounced "byootoxy" (like beautiful) not "bu-toxy" (like bukake).