BP burning sea turtles alive

[jgraz]

BP ‘burning sea turtles alive’

A rare and endangered species of sea turtle is being burned alive in BP's controlled burns of the oil swirling around the Gulf of Mexico, and a boat captain tasked with saving them says the company has blocked rescue efforts.

Mike Ellis, a boat captain involved in a three-week effort to rescue as many sea turtles from unfolding disaster as possible, says BP effectively shut down the operation by preventing boats from coming out to rescue the turtles.

"They ran us out of there and then they shut us down, they would not let us get back in there," Ellis said in an interview with conservation biologist Catherine Craig.

Part of BP's efforts to contain the oil spill are controlled burns. Fire-resistant booms are used to corral an area of oil, then the area within the boom is lit on fire, burning off the oil and whatever marine life may have been inside.

"Once the turtles get in there they can't get out," Ellis said.


http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0620/bp-burning-sea-turtles-alive

[LaurenG]

1. OMG

OMG :cry:

[annabanana]

2. Are there no parameters of this catastrophe? Is it truly as boundless

as it seems?

[jgraz]

5. Welcome to the world as corporate litterbox

We need to start demanding a massive federal mobilization to take over the cleanup from BP. They're fucking corporate pirates and they should not be trusted with cleaning a toilet, let alone the Gulf's ecosystem.

[RKP5637]

9. Where is Obama? n/t

[jgraz]

15. Maybe somewhere on the other end of these numbers

White House
Comments: 202-456-1111. Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Not sure if it will do any good, but I've been calling about this issue.

[RKP5637]

16. Thanks!!! n/t

[emilyg]

20. Maybe another concert, round of golf? He has a

a meeting coming up with the Lakers. He's a busy man.

[katandmoon]

3. Those goddamn fuckers! I wish somebody would firebomb *their* boats!

[Lagomorph]

28. So you want to sink the boats that are fighting the oil spill?

I would think that any turtle unfortunate enough to be within the boom is already a dead turtle, but I'm no expert.

[emilyg]

4. Can't someone stop them?

[jgraz]

6. Yes, "someone" can.

But "someone" is choosing not to.

[RKP5637]

11. I think we have a government, but they seem complacent in many ways IMO. n/t

[Truth2Tell]

39. complicit in many ways nt

[RKP5637]

42. Thanks! Yep, better word choice! n/t

[emilyg]

17. Sigh.

Back in the 50's 60's we would have had hundreds of people going and shouting for them to stop.

[RKP5637]

26. I get the feeling sometimes no one "really" gives a damn anymore. There is so much

crap that goes on anymore it's outrageous. I do know in the 60's that IMO nothing would have come about with protesting Vietnam if the draft had not existed. I do think today people are far more callus than in the 50's/60's.

This is the country where sometimes people stand around and watch someone raped, beat to death, in dire medical need and they are too lazy, too cruel or too voyeuristic to bother to dial 911 on their damn cell phone. Probably a lot of these jerks could care less about sea turtles.

[William Z. Foster]

34. not so

We were out there, organizing, agitating, and marching for Civil Rights - draft or no draft. The draft did bring in a bunch of people who spent a brief time in the movement, hijacked it, turned it into self-indulgent performance art, and left it in ruin. They then went on to "being the change they wished to see" and "working within the system for incremental change" and "making the right consumer choices" based on their "personal values" and lecturing all of us to "accept reality" and vote for the "lesser of two evils" and take "personal responsibility."

[Lagomorph]

38. So, your were there too...

Personal responsibility is a good thing when you exercise it in your life. This country (culture, society) can do just about anything to you and you're the one who has to deal with it all, without exercising the nuclear option of running your life down the toilet, but it feels better when you discover it for yourself, rather than having it used as an excuse by somebody who is running your life down the toilet for you.

[RKP5637]

41. Where is all of this today? Somehow, it seems the mood of the country

has changed to being more complacent... In the 60's you could feel the energy, I don't get that feeling today. BTW, I was only speaking of the war protests as being sparked by the draft, not the march for civil rights.

My feeling is today the population is more controlled. IMO the media, for example, does a pretty good job of brainwashing far too many into acceptance of status quo...

BTW- someone posted yesterday that now Rove is up in Canada spreading his neoconservatism to a Fox like media outlet starting up with significant financial backing.

[William Z. Foster]

43. not sure

I think that we have a larger group of more complacent and brainwashed educated people and intellectuals. That is a hard subject to raise here, of course, because that turns the spotlight on us and we are accustomed to looking at the rest of the population and talking about what is wrong with them. But I am certain that there is more unrest and less complacency and less brainwashing among the general population - once you get away from that gentrified 10% who control the national political discussion - than ever before.

The main effect of the mass media is not to brainwash the masses into complacency, but rather to paralyze and confuse and neuter the intellectuals, especially liberals, progressives and Democrats. As I said, this is difficult to talk about here and often elicits a furious response, which of course supports my contention. In the 60's people were very happy to see ways in which they had been co-opted into carrying water for the ruling class. Today people's identification is closely tied in to a sel;f-image of being a cut above, superior to the everyday people and there is great resistance to any self-criticism.

The anti-war movement in the 60's built on the Civil Rights movement, and the draft driving millions of young relatively upscale people into the movement was a mixed blessing at best.

[RKP5637]

44. Well said! I agree! Thanks! n/t

[earthboundmisfit]

7. The Kemp's Ridleys especially were having a hard time even before the disaster

And now... extinction? Such a fragile population to start with! u:cry:
more form the article:

Mike Michael at Gather.com reports that Kemp's Ridleys are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Harming or killing one "carries stiff fines and civil penalties ($500-$25,000) assessed for each violation. Criminal penalties include possible prison time and fines from $25,000-$50,000."

Michael suggests that, given the size of the fines BP could face as a result of the turtle deaths, the company may be happy to let turtles burn, as it would make it impossible to calculate exactly how many turtles died. He notes that the bodies of dead animals are being kept as evidence to determine how much in fines BP will be liable for.

"Is BP destroying evidence to keep their liability down?" he asks. "Is anyone going to stop them?"

Goddammit this makes me sick - I hope something can be done to stop this, and make BP fucking pay, although it won't bring the turtles back, or the 11 guys killed back, or any human or other creatures' lives affected.

[RKP5637]

8. It about time this BULL SHIT came to an end. I suppose BP and the rest of

the greedy feel money can fix everything. Wonder how well their money will work when they have no F'en planet to live on... This is F'en sick! As usual, the worst predators on this planet are humans. I'm glad I'm coming to the end of my life than starting it, and I feel so sorry for what children are inheriting.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. WTF!

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. WTF!

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. I wish I believed in Hellfire and brimstone

for people like those at BP!!

[niyad]

14. no wonder these bastards want to keep media away--every day, we see more and more of their

murderous, clueless, destructive culture of earth-hating. I think these bastards need to experience what they are subjecting all life in and around the Gulf to in their greed, incompetence and overweening arrogance.

[emilyg]

18. Why doesn't our government step in?

[jgraz]

19. Call them and ask

White House
Comments: 202-456-1111. Switchboard: 202-456-1414

[emilyg]

22. Thanks - will pass the number to my family

and friends. I will call.

[City Lights]

24. Thanks...I'm going to call tomorrow.

:cry:

[niyad]

21. gutless, and in the pockets of the corporations.

[emilyg]

23. Yes.

[NCarolinawoman]

25. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY..... Where the hell are they?!!!

These are American waters. Why isn't the EPA doing it's job of PROTECTING?!!!

[RKP5637]

27. EXCELLENT QUESTION!!! VERY EXCELLENT QUESTION!!! n/t

[Swamp Rat]

29. KILL BP!!!

[Maru Kitteh]

30. K & R for the turtles. Will do again in the morning.

sick fucking bastards

[flvegan]

31. Call me crazy...I'd deputize Sea Shepherd and give them a dozen boats.

Bet that shit ends.

But then again, I'm a direct action no-bullshit kind of guy.

[Merchant Marine]

33. Oh yeah, right up until the USCG shoots them.

I'd like to see somebody post an alternative to boom and burn. Outrage is great but having an alternative plan is more productive.

[flvegan]

35. Coast Guard shoots whom?

[Merchant Marine]

36. The SSCS trying their usual tricks in American waters.

But seriously, does anyone have an alternative proposal here?

[flvegan]

37. I've got and have had a bunch of friends in the Coast Guard.

I'm thinking that if the Prez deputized SSCS, then the Coast Guard wouldn't have shit to say about it.

Are you saying that the USCG would go against orders?

[Merchant Marine]

40. "Deputized"?

Well as long as we're playing make-believe... What department/agency would they be "Deputies" of? 'Cuz I think the thought of being responsible for Watson's actions would kick off a game of "I don't want it!" in DC.

[pitohui]

46. give them a dozen boats to do what?

if you've been sitting on a secret to ending this mess all this time, you should speak up now and really should have spoken up a long time ago

some of this oil is like a thick mousse or chocolate pudding that goes v. far down, it has to be burned off when conditions are right

if the choice is, let's pretend we are rescuing turtles (that are already choked and poisoned) instead of burning off some of the oil so that future turtles might again have a place to live...what are you really saying? that the appearance of action is more important than actually doing something useful?

in some places, when the wind is right, they need to act and burn off the oil while they can to reduce the scope of the disaster, a dozen cowboys in a dozen boats isn't going to do anything except get more people hurt today (and probably more turtles dead in days to come)

sometimes a tragedy is actually a tragedy with no cheap easy answers

if you have a way to save these turtles, and i mean a "real" way, that would work, rather than just talktalk, let's hear it

but a bunch of randoms in boats getting in the way of a controlled burn is probably just not gonna work in the real world

i too wish fairy tales were true but i'm impatient w. being fed fairy tales now that i know they're not

boom & burn, as the other guy calls it, may not be pretty, and it isn't perfect, but it's something more than people running around making videos and spreading rumors are doing...

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. Burn in Hell Tony :Evil Soulless Bastard: Hayward and anyone else who condones this!

:grr: My fucing Gawd! Why doesn't the Obama Administration do SOMETHING about this? :wtf: This and the spraying of that life destroying dispersant Corexit. Is
BP trying to poison/kill us all?

[Uncle Joe]

45. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, jgraz.