Good morning,
I am starting to follow the BP oil disaster story more closely — it’s extremely complex, and there is a lot we’re not hearing in the mainstream media. With some help yesterday, I was able to cast what I believe is an accurate chart for the initial explosion on 4/20, which I’ve posted below. Minor planets are included in a link. That page is open for comments.
The chart is challenging. It’s not, for example, like the 9/11 chart, which is plain on its face (though there is an important connection between the two charts). This one is veiled in many layers; apropos of Mercury retrograde, it’s a riddle. One thing is clear: after taking a look at Amycus today, a centaur planet that is exactly rising in the chart, this is an event that will live in infamy.
This story looks like one thing if you go back 15 days; and it looks like something else if you go back 15 years, and look ahead 15 years. The real issue is the role of oil in geopolitics and world economics. That is to say, everyone knows that despite all those nifty Boeing 777s flying around guzzling jet fuel, we’re approaching a paradigm shift out of an oil-dependent economy. An accidental issue, if we could call it that, is the role of oil in the environmental crisis and wake-up moment that we are in. It is most of the problem; chlorine is most of the rest of the problem. (Combine them and you get PCBs, DDT, PVC [vinyl], dioxin, furans and hundreds of other chemicals/issues.)
As for the scope of this mess: let’s visualize a miracle; that flow of crude oil suddenly stopping. Oil exists under the ground under extreme pressure. When a well is broken open, you get a gusher, and that’s what is happening. But what exactly went wrong? And how?
We found one clue in an article from the Los Angeles Times: Halliburton in Spotlight in Spill Probe. I suggest we take a moment and thank the heavens, or the voters, that Halliburton isn’t president, or vice president.
I would appreciate it if my news junkie readers post the URLs to articles you’ve found that you think are worth taking note of. State in your comment why you think the article is particularly relevant. If you’re so inclined, save the whole story. When news like this happens, articles disappear, facts have an odd way of changing, and other issues that would be prominent get pushed into the background. Most people would not think that this would be done to create a distraction from something else, but it’s certainly possible. In any event, whether ‘intentional’ or not, it will function that way, so we need to pay attention.
I will be back with a more careful analysis of the chart, though most likely I will not say much till Friday’s edition of Astrology News. I am aware I need to be careful — we are about to enter Mercury storm, and when Mr/Ms trickster stations direct on Sunday, a new dimension of reality opens up.
Keep your antennae up.
The Daily Oracle and Len’s astrology will be the next posts you see.
–ef
Ah, Jude thank you! I appreciate knowing that….. and it validates my sense about the source, but you know, you are right that the fact it is believable tells its own tale.
Read somewhere, and can’t find it again, that Halliburton had made the concrete casing being used for the well. And it was the 2nd time one of their casings had failed.
If so, maybe it’s just coincidence or luck that Halliburton bought Boots and Coots an oil and gas well control and recovery company on 12 April, isn’t it?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10722752/halliburton-buys-boots-coots.html
Kyla, Andy Borowitz is a satirist who does Onion-like news posts — and the lightworker link won’t load for me. Sad but true on the conspiratorial aspects of the whole of it, but Borowitz is entertainment at least. And Sign of the Times that it’s ‘believable.’
Hey Eric,
Good piece here at Truthout http://www.truthout.org/whistlelower-bps-other-offshore-drilling-project-gulf-vulnerable-catastrophe59027 suggests more of these disasters to come due to cost/corner cutting.
And just for a wider perspective on the impacts social, political, personal here’s a roundup from the Post Carbon Inistitute http://postcarbon.com/press-release/95968-12-fresh-angles-on-the-gulf
I’ve been busy messaging the spill as an example of Ecocide – a campaign for a legal definition of this term is being driven by a friend/colleague of mine here in the UK, see: http://www.thisisecocide.org.
Px
Here is the link to the Goldman Sachs article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/goldman-sachs-reveals-it_b_558774.html
*sigh*
Okay, this is a questionable source and I am still trying to locate the actual Huffington Post URL for the actual story, but as mentioned, because stuff does tend to get disappeared real fast during events such as this I am going to go ahead and share this as it was forwarded to me by a friend:
This is EVEN MORE DAMNING THEN 911
Think abouthe Ramifications of whose in bed with whom
Unknowably Clear in the Glow of HealinGrace *6*12*
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/lightworke r_haven/messages
Sachs Reveals it Shorted Gulf of Mexico http://www.huffingtonpost. com
In what is looming as another public relations predicament for Goldman Sachs, the banking giant admitted today that it made “a substantial financial bet against the Gulf of Mexico” one day before the sinking of an oil rig in that body of water.
The new revelations came to light after government investigators turned up new emails from Goldman employee Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre in which he bragged to a girlfriend that the firm was taking a “big short” position on the Gulf.
“One oil rig goes down and we’re going to be rolling in dough,” Mr. Tourre wrote in one email. “Suck it, fishies and birdies!”
The news about Goldman’s bet against the Gulf comes on the heels of embarrassing revelations that the firm had taken a short position on Lindsay Lohan’s acting career.
Found a couple of interesting bits today. Did the decision to forego the necessity of a half-million buck acoustic switch happen inside the Bush White House? Or — as Uncle Dick would put it — go fuck yerself!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/may/03/usa-dickcheney
Also a bit of pragmatism from the website of [discredited Righty] David Frum:
After the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents, the nuclear power industry hit on the notion of “safety culture.”
Meaning, that one more spectacularly catastrophic accident broadcast live into America’s living rooms would bury nuclear power’s prospects permanently. Self-preservation dictated fostering a no-nonsense approach to operating a high-risk technology well within demanding margins for error.
In the wake of the spreading oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, the offshore oil industry ought to call in a few nuclear power executives for some helpful hints about tightening up operations. While they’re at it, bring in some oilmen from Norway, which runs offshore oil drilling operations in the stormy North Sea with crisp attention to safety and environmental protection.
http://www.frumforum.com/offshore-drilling-needs-a-timeout
This horror show is shaping up as a game changer — but it won’t be helpful if the ‘green technology’ we turn to is nuclear.
I join you in expecting miracles, especially in terms of public awareness and willingness to take responsibility. If this is our Chernobyl, may it be an awakening that doesn’t drag its feet, and may each thing that perishes, now, become too high a price to pay in the future.
And Victoria — bingo on the BP commercials. They rival Hallmark for sweet and sappy, bringing a tear. First class PR effort out of their multi-billion dollar profit account.
We shouldn’t forget that we all have a role to play in generating demand, one way or the other. These catastrophic incidents are part of the package that we buy into as part of our high consumption lifestyles. It doesn’t help of course, but I’m not sure it is that simple to say BP caused the problem and BP will pay for their mistakes – we know there is no such thing as an incident free reliance on oil. We all know it, now we are seeing it again on our front pages.
astrodem:
I saw that Kos diary. I’m going to take a look at that bill to see if in the event of willful wrongdoing on the part of the lead players, that the cap is taken off and full suit for damages can ensue. It would be worth a shot, given that Bush 1 had Exxon Valdez to live down.
This is also a construction disaster, so that would mean there is a limited liability for each of the parties – meaning that everyone pays up their share for the full costs based on the percentage of their responsibility for the fuck-up. In most construction projects, its not one thing, like an explosion, but a series of things, including designer error and omission, that leads to the “event”.
I’ve got my public contract administrator hat on for this story. Its going to be an interesting week.
Below is a piece from Daily Kos pointing out that, despite Obama’s insistence that BP will pay the full cost of the cleanup, they’re actually going to get away with a mere slap on the wrist. Current law limits BP’s liability to $75 million. There is a billion dollar government fund to help pay for cleanups, but even the best case scenarios that I’m seeing (in other words, they contain the spill right now) are projecting damages and costs in the tens of billions of dollars. Worst case scenarios are talking about hundreds of billions — potentially trillions — of dollars in damages, a double dip economic recession, oil spreading up the Atlantic coastline and entering the Gulfstream and beyond, and the Gulf becoming a damaged sea for a generation, with a devastating environmental and economic impact on the coastal states. Remember folks, as horrific as this sounds, it’s still a drop in the pond compared to what just a 2 degrees Celsius change in temperature would mean for the planet.
Just as Al Gore predicted “We are entering an era of consequences.”
astrodem
———
NYT: 1990 law limits BP’s damage liability to $75 million
by Jed Lewison
Mon May 03, 2010 at 06:46:15 AM PDT
Matthew Wald of The New York Times reports the details of the previously obscure Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a $1.6 billion fund financed by a minuscule tax on oil — eight cents per barrel, which Wald says is roughly 0.1%. According to Wald, the fund is designed to pay damage claims resulting from oil spills, though not cleanup and containment costs. But that’s not all it does. It also limits the liability of oil companies like BP.
Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government, although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning up the spill.
The fund was set up by Congress in 1986 but not financed until after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989. In exchange for the limits on liability, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 imposed a tax on oil companies, currently 8 cents for every barrel they produce in this country or import.
The tax adds roughly one tenth of a percent to the price of oil. Another source of revenue is fines and civil penalties from companies that spill oil.
According to Wald’s report, there have been 51 instances in which damages under the $75 million liability cap has been exceeded. That figure will certainly be exceeded with BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill. Up to $1 billion from the fund can be used for any single accident, but in this case, $1 billion is likely to be peanuts.
In other words, it was a pretty sweet deal for oil companies: they agreed to a tiny tax which they can pass on to consumers, and in exchange their liability is limited to $75 million. Because they can pass the oil tax along to consumers, it’s like they got the liability caps for free.
If this law does indeed carry the final word, and there isn’t another way to hold BP accountable for the damage it has caused, then you can chalk up another victory for corporate socialism. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the right won’t shed a tear over it.
Update (6:56AM): Today’s NYT reports that there is a push to amend the law:
Mr. Obama met with Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana upon the arrival of Air Force One in New Orleans. Then he went to Venice for two hours — by road, rather than helicopter, because of inclement weather — to look at the response.
He stopped to speak to several fishermen, assuring them that BP would reimburse them for lost earnings. But reimbursement may be one of the largest battles to come, given that federal law sets a limit of $75 million on BP’s liability for damages, apart from the cleanup costs.
“It’s going to be extremely tricky” to reimburse fishermen and others if economic damages tally above $75 million, said Stuart Smith, a New Orleans-based lawyer who is pushing for Congressional action to amend the law. “They may not be obligated to pay more than that unless they agree to do it.”
There is a federal fund, generated from a tax on oil, that may cover as much as $1 billion in damages.
Obviously, at the moment, much of the focus on the ground is stopping the spill and cleaning it up, but dealing the economic damages resulting from it will be a huge deal. And it’s enormously important that the administration and Congress do everything within their power to ensure that BP is held accountable. It’s not just politics, though the politics of this are obvious. It’s also policy: if oil firms can ‘earn’ unlimited profits without accepting responsibility for the damages caused by their operations, there will be an endless cycle of environmental disasters like the one unfolding in the Gulf.
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* Discuss (209 comments)
“As for the scope of this mess: let’s visualize a miracle; that flow of crude oil suddenly stopping.”
It seems very difficult, but I think we should really do that. Visualize the flow of oil stopping, the big oil spot in the water dissolving, THE ANIMALS SAFE. Send love, light. Also send light to the well itself and to all the workers and the people involved and responsible for this mess. This is powerful and works.
It’s so very sad. Infamy is an appropriate word, for even if BP will pay for everything, as it says, how can money ‘pay’ such a damage?
A collective assumption of responsibility that results in a paradigm shift in geopolitics and world economy and clean, sustainable sources of energy, as Eric says, could be the only ‘benefit’ for such a black spot in history (and geography).
What’s funny is that prior to disaster striking, I kept seeing TONS of BP commercials (for someone who doesn’t watch a ton of TV, I saw a bunch and found myself highly irritated by them-I think I even shouted out at the TV “Give me a fucking break” or something like that….and literally thinking “this is WHY I cannot watch television”). I mean, most advertising is so fake and inauthentic anyway, but they’ve been running some totally over-the-top ads with a vibe of “We just want to HELP America, we want to use OUR resources, here at HOME.” Well good fucking job BP. Can’t wait to see what you come up with Eric….Godspeed.
love the early Monday reports coming in…it’s only 9:30 in Maui..:) Here’s hoping this week isn’t as weird as the last two, but somehow I doubt that….
victoria