Seventeen companies are named in the lawsuit, including Seacor Marine and Diamond Offshore Drilling. According to a Business Week report, the suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of all commercial fisherman, charter-boat operators and other businesses affected by the spill; property owners whose land was fouled; and oil workers who lost work because of the U.S.-imposed halt in offshore drilling.

According to Business Week, the complaint further alleges that the fireboats should have used their “dynamic positioning systems” to hold the Deepwater Horizon in place while fighting the fire with industry-approved methods, which would have prevented the sinking and the oil spill.

The lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).

In other oil spill news, federal officials have decided to allow pressure testing of the containment cap that was installed over the leaking well last week to continue for now. This despite the appearance of bubbles and seepage in four place around the gusher. According to The Washington Post, the Obama Administration is allowing BP to keep the cap shut off for the next 24 hours while engineers try to determine the severity and consequences of the problems.

The well was shut off last week, and oil has stopped flowing in the Gulf of Mexico for now. However, over the weekend, BP and the government were at odds over whether to allow the well to remain shut off. BP wants it to stay capped until relief wells – the only permanent way to end the spill – are finished sometime in the next month.

However, the government was pushing BP to open the well up and continue efforts to siphon the oil and collect it in containment ships on the shore. It would take at least a few days to get those ships reconnected, and oil would have to be allowed to flow freely into the sea while that occurred. Federal officials took this stance after pressure readings on the cap weren’t as high as expected. This could be an indication that there is a leak somewhere else in the wellbore, or deep down in bedrock, which could make the seabed unstable. The well would need to be reopened to ensure no further damage is done
]]> http://my-complaint.com/latest-bp-oil-spill-lawsuit/feed/ 0 http://my-complaint.com/oil-disaster/ http://my-complaint.com/oil-disaster/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:50:54 +0000 admin http://my-complaint.com/?p=15656 As many hundreds of thousands of gallons of deadly oil continues to spread throughout the Gulf of Mexico, lapping at the Louisiana coast, en route to the Atlantic Ocean, the folly and arrogance of Barack Obama’s March, 2010, proposal to expand offshore drilling is hideously highlighted. Once again it is the everyday people of this nation and planet who are paying the price for Obama’s complicity with the avaricious oil companies and their corporate allies. This has nothing whatever to do with national or planetary security, and everything to do with corporate profit and greed.

While the corporate media attempts to minimize, under-report, distort, or outright ignore the enormous and growing and irreparable damage to people, wildlife, fishing, vegetation, and the eco-system of Mother Earth caused by this corporate horror that began on April 20th, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama / Biden / Rahm Emanuel administration was busily urging that off-shore drilling be expanded. In an April 15th, 2010, article in The Black Commentator titled, ‘Decloaking the Deadly Foxes in Our Midst,’ I specifically warned about the insidious and “environmentally insane off-shore drilling” policies on the part of “Obama and his Democratic and Republican Party colleagues.” Who was paying attention? Who is paying attention even now?

It is important to understand that British Petroleum (BP) is not by any means the only corporate player involved in this horrendous national and planetary disaster, just as Goldman Sachs is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only corporate vampire on Wall Street. In point of fact, Haliburton Corporation, Transocean Corporation, and Hyundai Heavy Industries all worked together with British Petroleum. The bottom line for these corporations is profit for the elite, motivated by greed. The safety and welfare of everyday people and the planet is a distant second or third – if indeed at all.

Even as the pro-apartheid Zionist Obama / Biden / Rahm Emanuel clique continues to wage bloody imperialistic wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan (to name but a few places), joblessness, foreclosures, college / university education-tuition hikes, homelessness, racism, corporate government attacks on labor unions & working people, and prison incarceration rates continue to sky rocket in this nation. Even as public education is in fact dismantled and privatized by the Democratic Party foxes and Republican Party wolves, our young people serve as cannon fodder for the corporate / military elite – going from the cradle to the military or to prison.

Our addiction to oil comes at a very high price. We have to wean ourselves off of it and as quickly as possible. Our ability to destroy and pollute this planet seems mind bogling and insane. We knew long ago this was coming but took no steps towards change. It amazes me that as a species we can be so kind on one hand but continue to destroy the planet at a reckless pace on ther other. I fear a true desire and push for real change will only come when millions of people are sickened and die. By then I wonder if it may be too late. Facts are facts people. We best wake up soon.

But isn’t the Obama Administration doing everything possible to help US homeowners now living in a toxic home because of toxic Chinese drywall? The Chinese Drywall Complaint Center says, “the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill-now officially the worst oil spill in US history is not the Obama Administrations first astonishing failure to respond to a national disaster. The Obama Administration’s response to toxic Chinese drywall has been negligent, and they act like they either do not want to talk about it-or their are afraid of offending the Chinese-either way 100,000’s of US Homeowners in the US Southeast have been abandoned by Washington, DC.” The group says,”even worse than Obama’s lack of interest in toxic Chinese drywall-the US Consumer Products Safety Commission has miserably failed 100,000’s of US homeowners with their lack of information.

Symptoms of toxic Chinese drywall in homes in Louisiana, North Florida, Central Florida, South Florida, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, or Southeast Texas include: repeated air conditioning coil failures, within two years of the home being built. In addition to air conditioning coil failures, toxic Chinese drywall in the US Southeast may cause appliance failures, light bulbs burning out prematurely, copper turning black, combined with all, or some of the family are experiencing seemingly never ending upper respiratory issues, nose bleeds, severe headaches, unexplained very unusual rashes, especially in the late spring, or summer. The time frame for toxic Chinese drywall in the US Southeast is 2001-to early 2009. The Chinese Drywall Complaint Center is saying, “We think the worst effects of toxic Chinese drywall in the US Southeast occur in from mid April—mid October because of high heat combined with high thresholds of humidity.”

First filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee on April 30, the amended complaint in Ward, et. al. v. BP, et.al. (N.D. Fla., Case No. 4:10-cv-00157-SPM-WCS), alleges gross negligence, willful misconduct and other claims in the design, construction and operation of the rig, as well as in the response to the disaster. The case has been assigned to Chief Judge Stephan P. Mickle.

The defendants include various divisions of oil giant BP (formerly British Petroleum), Transocean, Ltd. (the owners/operators of the Deepwater Horizon), Halliburton Energy (which was involved in “cementing” operations to cap the oil rig when the explosion occurred) and Cameron International Corporation (manufacturers of the rig’s blow-out-preventers, which failed to operate properly and prevent the oil spill).

Similar lawsuits are planned for Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, as the devastation from the oil rig disaster continues to grow.

“Oil continues to flow into the gulf, and with it an environmental nightmare,” said Dr. Howard, who most recently played a leading role in coordinating a national team of more than 40 law firms in the Toyota sudden acceleration lawsuits.

“This unmitigated horror threatens to destroy one of the most beautiful marine, coastal and estuarine environments in the world.”

clean up the oil spill along the Gulf of Mexico. The company said they are recovering over 2000 barrels of oil everyday and are in the process of cleaning up the oil spill.

“It is expected that it will take some time to increase the flow through the system and maximise the proportion of oil and gas flowing through the broken riser that will be captured and transported to the drillship” BP said.

The company said this past week that they have been recovering the oil which spread into coastal regions which is an estimated 5000 barrels and over 1000 have been recovered already. BP has been working on covering the leaks in the leaks and has been taking measure to ensure the incident does to worsen and repeat itself.

BP is offering compensation for those affected by the spill in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi and has spend $650 million on total expenses out of which $450 million was spent on the clean up. BP said 15,600 complaints were received in total out of which 2,700 have been compensated.

The submission to NAFTA’s commission for environmental co-operation comes the same day Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have hit a high and are on the way down.

“You’re going to see Canadian emissions have peaked and the gradual reduction of our emissions over time as we move forward,” Prentice told reporters Wednesday. “I’m quite confident in saying that is what you’re going to see.”

Prentice said Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped 2% between 2007 and 2008.

That news didn’t stop the advocacy group Environmental Defence Canada from accusing the government of doing little to battle climate change, and additionally, of allowing contamination from the Alberta oilsands to spoil fish habitats.

The government “is failing to do anything, really, to clean up the tarsands,” said Matt Price, director of policy for Environmental Defence. Instead, he said, it “is running interference for the tarsands industry.”

Environmental Defence joins the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defence Council and three private Canadian citizens in submitting the complaint to the commission, a side-body of NAFTA.

The submission focuses on what Price called a failure to enforce the federal fisheries act, which he said prohibits adding pollutants or contaminants to fish-bearing bodies of waters or waters that flow into them.

Tailings ponds are created when industry extracts bitumen from the oilsands, using hot water to separate it from other compounds. The contaminated liquid is then held in large ponds.

In their submission to the commission, the environment groups charge the tailings ponds leach contaminants into both surface and groundwater in the Athabasca watershed.

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called “gau jal”, or “cow water” – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched “very soon, maybe by the end of this year”.

“Don’t worry, it won’t smell like urine and will be tasty too,” he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. “Its USP will be that it’s going to be very healthy. It won’t be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins.”

Hindus revere cows and slaughtering them is illegal in most of India. Cow dung is traditionally used as a fuel and disinfectant in villages, while cow urine and dung are often consumed in rituals to “purify” those on the bottom rungs of the Hindu caste system.

In 2001, the RSS and its offshoots – which include the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party – began promoting cow urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

Mr Prakash said his drink, by contrast, was made mainly of cow urine, mixed with a few medicinal and ayurvedic herbs. He said it would be “cheap”, but declined to give further details about its price or ingredients until it was officially launched.

He insisted, however, that it would be able to compete with the American cola brands, even with their enormous advertising budgets. “We’re going to give them good competition as our drink is good for mankind,” he said. “We may also think of exporting it.”

The World Health Organisation published findings as early as 2000 showing that global warming caused 150,000 deaths each year – deaths that would not have occurred in a normal context. We expect that number to rise to 500,000 deaths per year by 2030.

Yet the impact of climate change on our health is a little-known issue. People think it’s a marginal problem. We can see this even in the current summit at Copenhagen.
Which countries are most affected by climate-caused health problems?

As usual, developing countries are the most vulnerable. Climate change favours the spread of diseases transmitted by mosquito or tick bites, like dengue fever, malaria, or yellow fever, which are most rampant in sub-Saharan countries in Africa. The disease-carrying insects reproduce more and live longer in warmer temperatures. Global warming also causes natural disasters like floods, cyclones or massive draughts. There again, developing countries are the hardest hit.

Are rich countries also affected?

In developed countries, floods caused by climate change are already responsible for many human casualties. There are also heat waves: we expect there to be one major heatwave every two years in France at the end of the 21st century.

Children and people suffering from asthma are also particularly at risk, because they are particularly sensitive to air pollution. Global warming makes air pollution spikes more frequent and aggressive.

Mosquito-transmitted diseases also exist in Europe, although to a lesser degree. Lyme disease, an infection transmitted by ticks, is emerging everywhere in Europe. Certain people say that malaria could resurge in Europe – I think it’s very possible. France has a good healthcare system and is well equipped to fight the disease, but other Mediterranean countries may not be as well prepared.

Finally, climate change favours the development of all sorts of allergies: it is estimated that one out of two people will suffer from allergies by 2050. Spring pollen season, well known to all those who suffer from hay fever, lasts longer in warmer climates. And the pollen produced by plants growing in polluted atmospheres is more allergenic
“As nearly 200 nations begin important climate talks in Copenhagen this week, we are heartened to see that our government is recognizing the global warming threat. Earthjustice has been in the courts, in Congress, and in the international negotiations, pushing for actions to curb global warming pollution, require better energy efficiency in appliances and buildings, and promote cleaner, renewable energy sources. We urge the EPA and President Obama to advocate for action in Copenhagen and commit our country to significant global warming pollution cuts that will lead us towards a clean energy future.

The paper reports that the oil and gas liaison’s department did add an employee in 2009 (from two to three) and will see a tripling in its budget from 2008 to 2010, if its proposed budget for next year is approved. But a key hydrologic study to check for contaminants from gas drilling in the Mamm Creek area was slashed from $180,000 to $20,000 in 2009.

That study is part of an ongoing effort to investigate findings from a private consultant that show elevated levels of methane in groundwater supplies since the most recent gas boom began in the late 1990s. There also is a push for more federal regulation of certain drilling practices in the wake of complaints from residents that their groundwater wells are being contaminated and they’re being sickened by gas drilling.
Oil and gas liaison officer Judy Jordan told the paper she was perplexed by the rising number of complaints given the drop-off in drilling in the county (from 70 active rigs a year ago to 16 currently operating). That slowdown is widely attributed to the global recession and drop in the commodity price, but some Republicans say it’s directly linked to more stringent state environmental regulations for gas drilling that went into effect in the spring.
“America is facing a painful recession, and this Governor’s policies have made a bad economic situation worse,” Penry writes in his most recent campaign fund-raising newsletter, blasting the “stifling oil and gas regulations [that] have done nothing to help get our economy turned around.”

Whatever the causes the latest natural gas downturn (or some would say bust), Garfield County’s Jordan said the number of drilling permits her department is seeing forwarded from the state for county review continues to go up.

Your guide leads your group of six or seven thrill seekers into the thick vegetation. For the first two days, you walk along in awe as your guide points out the various kinds of plant and animal life. On the third day, you happen to be taking up the rear of the group. You stop to lace up your boots. As you bend over, your backpack tips over and spills its contents.

When you’re done gathering and repacking your gear, you look up and your group is nowhere in sight. You jog ahead a little to try to catch up, but then the trail just disappears right before your eyes. There is a hint of a trail to your right, so you try that, but no luck. Before you know it, you’re standing in the middle of the jungle with no trail and no people in sight, and you’re not even sure which way you came from. By this time you’ve resorted to screaming, but your group is long gone.
The foliage is so thick that you can’t even see the sky. The ground is slippery in the humid air, so you’ve been slipping and falling a lot. Thorny vines have been cutting itchy lines in your shins. You run desperately in a hundred different directions, but eventually you must face the bitter truth. You are lost. Hopelessly lost.

“For some, even for many, hope is in short supply.”5 There seems to be no way out, no real answers, not when you’re stuck in the jungle.”

Drop you in a downtown and tell you to find a Starbucks – no problem. But here, it’s just too much. You just can’t handle the jungle. You sit down on a log, tired and depressed, burry your face in your hands and think, “It’s hopeless; I’ll never get out of here.”

“Can you freeze frame that emotion for a moment? Can you sense for just a second how it feels to be out of your element? Out of solutions? Out of ideas and energy? Can you imagine, for just a moment, how it feels to be out of hope?”
Often, life is a jungle. “Not a jungle of trees and beasts. … Our jungles are comprised of … failing health, broken hearts, and empty wallets. Our forests are framed with hospital walls and divorce courts. We don’t hear the screeching of birds or the roaring of lions, but we do hear the complaints of neighbors and the demands of bosses.”4 And tromping through the brush is exhausting.

That means bird feeders, barbecue grills, dog food and just about anything else a bear might find tasty. Typical for this time of year, bears also have caused problems for commercial beekeepers. That’s more difficult to prevent and often requires beekeepers to take action.

“That’s not unusual,” said Ted Dick, assistant area wildlife manager for the DNR in Baudette. “They have a lot of incidents up here every year. Those beehives in bear country get hit pretty hard.”

Like Birchem, Dick said it’s especially important for homeowners to remove the birdfeeders. When natural foods are hard to come by, as they are right now, birdfeeders are the first things a bear will hit.

“I’m a feeder, I like having birds around, but we pull our feeders in regardless,” Dick said. “Anything a bird will eat, a bear will eat.”

For some reason, the complaints seem to be more abundant in northwestern Minnesota than other parts of the state, based on the weekly report from DNR conservation officers. On the plus side, Birchem said he hasn’t gotten any reports of bears acting aggressively.

Still, he said, it’s important for people to remember bears are wild animals and avoid confronting them.

“Most of the bears we’re seeing are the smaller males — they’re the ones being the problems,” Birchem said. “We can usually tell if it’s really bad if we start seeing sows with cubs being a nuisance,” and so far that hasn’t been the case.

Birchem said the recent spike in complaints is nothing, compared with the years when there’s no berry crop. This year, he said, the outlook is good, and the problems of the past couple of weeks should disappear as soon as the berries ripen.