The Gulf and it's plight has not faded. It has amped up to a million, and it seems we are all just day to day coping. That fight, sadly, will last until I die, and I find SOME way to work against it every day. I will never look away, and I will never let others. And true to Coastal Folks long-time reputation, even with all their trials and tribulations, they are trying to find ways to help OTHER suffering folks, here and abroad. Bless their hearts*.
In light of what storm victims are suffering all over the world, including in my stomping grounds, the already multi-ravaged South (and now the poor Midwest) USA, I have been concentrating a lot of my efforts toward Shelter Box USA.
Two of my girlfriends, one who is a severely Deepwater-Horizon affected coastal resident (her 111 yr old family home is ON Mobile Bay) and hardcore activist in her own right, Amanda Bacon, started Facebook pages to help raise money for the folks in Alabama who are homeless now, and there are many.
"Our goal is to help 50,000 families who lose everything in a disaster every year and we can achieve this goal with your help... We respond instantly to natural and manmade disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. Each box supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless. The ShelterBox solution in disaster response is as simple as it is effective. We deliver the essentials a family needs to survive in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family of up to 10 people, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items."
See what's inside!
I've been lucky enough to be able to contribute nearly 1/10 of a whole shelter box myself, and though that seems like so little, if that tent is housing an entire family of 10, that's shelter for one adult to help take care of 9 other people.
***
Please consider donating to that good cause if you can (or come with me to volunteer at a site!!! time IS money, help, love!)
right here with you, even when you can't see me over the swell, swimming, swimming...
<3 - s

*Despite what some MISPLACED MEAN YANKEE WOMEN** BELIEVE, this is not ALWAYS a bad/mean phrase. It's really just when we're talking about Y'ALL. *oo, snap.*

**and two white gloves and a Kool up to those of you who came here, acclimated and became such wonderful Steel-Town Magnolias. WOOT! <3

***this picture shows the REAL reason i chose shelterbox. BESIDES being incredibly tangibly helpful practical useful immediate, there is love and thoughtfulness. there is art and expression and communication in this box as well as survival. all my love to these people.

"Chief Raoni crying when he learned that the President of Brazil approved the Belo Monte dam project on the Xingu indigenous lands. Belo Monte will be bigger than the Panama Canal, flooding nearly a million acres of rainforest & indigenous lands. 40,000 indigenous and local people will be forced off their native lands (as well as millions of unknown species & plants) In the name of "progress"."
- http://www.facebook.com/laminacircle
Contact the Brazilian Embassy
http://www.internationalrivers.org/
http://amazonwatch.org/work/belo-monte-dam
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Belo-Monte-Dam/114520855235721
Many ways to make your voices heard! Holla! Add to their voices please!

Sorry this blog has been still for a few weeks. There is certainly no shortage of stuff to share, but truth be told, we have been so busy working hands-on, in the real world, that this news-source has suffered. I apologize, and promise to get right back to it now that the smoke has cleared. We have been working hard, writing articles for our local paper about what's going on with the people and the volunteer groups in the Gulf, we have been working every day to finish the trailer for the documentary and get everything ready for the show. We had the opening reception on Saturday evening, and so many people came out. I could see that the paintings, photos and film moved and affected them deeply, and I was very grateful to be able to see that response first-hand.

"We had a great tme, and I could tell people really GOT the show. ♥ A lot of people came out, watched the trailer, asked good questions, and I even sold a piece! :D But the really exciting thing is that it's running for almost another month, and so you can come and really look at it and process it all. They're bringing classes of school kids in, and I am going to be there to answer questions after they see the show and watch the documentary trailer. We have a panel discussion on the 7th as well. One of the other artists in the show, Connie Bostic will be there and Q, X and I to talk about the experience and answer question. It thrills me that people want to KNOW!"

Connie's work makes such an incredible, powerful impression, especially with hand-written quotes, pulled from the news of those first days after Katrina literally written on the walls above her paintings. This haunting body of work was gleaned from memories of images she saw on the news in the days following the storm, and her own emotional reaction to them. Bill Rosen's almost life-sized photos of personal destruction in his own home in New Orleans effected viewers mightily. When they noticed where the high water line was in the house and saw the piles of ruined objects that looked just like the things in their own homes, you could see the reality sink in a little deeper. It's not unimaginable, but it does help to have that artist hold your hand and gently but strongly lead you through that door so that it is easier for you to imagine and to face the truth of it.

People said a lot of things about our work too, things I hope I never forget, but the comments that made the biggest impression on me were, regarding my photos, that I seemed to really capture the spirit of the people and the land there, and what they are really going through; and regarding the film, that we managed to keep it non-political. That was important to us all along, and I am grateful that people saw that and immediately commented on it. They said, in various ways, "this is about ALL of us." It is.
Now the real work begins. Finishing the full-length film and buckling down for the long haul. There is so much still to be done. Hurricane season is just now really cranking up - there are two category 1 storms in the Atlantic right now, and years worth of work ahead of us - decades, maybe a lifetime's. I am hoping that what we're doing now is inspiring others to look at it the same way, and helping the ones who are living through it have some hope.

Oil spill investigation transcripts released

Palm Beach Post Staff Reports

Updated: 3:11 p.m. Friday, June 18, 2010 Posted: 3:06 p.m. Friday, June 18, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A joint investigation into the cause of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill is being conducted by the Minerals and Management Service and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The facts collected at this hearing, along with conclusions and recommendations will be forwarded to Coast Guard Headquarters and MMS for approval. Once approved, the final investigative report will be made available to the public and the media.

If the investigation reveals criminal misconduct on the part of any involved parties, then the Coast Guard will determine if the matter should be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution.

Here are the most recently released transcripts of the hearings.

[If you have trouble accessing the pdf's, send me an email @s.l.lovelace@gmail.com and I will send them to you as an attachment. - sll]

May 29 hearing (pdf)

“I was just -- I fell, put my hands over my head and I just said "No, God. No." Because I thought that was it.”        Micah Joseph Sandell Crane Operator TransOcean

May 28 hearing (pdf)

“Well, he made a couple of steps with his arm around my shoulder and he was in pain and he said "Set me down. Set me down." So, we set him back down and he said "Y'all go on. Save yourself." And I said "No, we're not going to leave you. We're not going to leave you in here." And along about that time I heard another voice saying "God help me. Somebody please help me."

Miles Ezwell Senior Toolpusher Transocean

May 27 hearing (pdf)

“There's one thing I was concerned about during all of this. Once we got on that boat, there was a lot of people that went through a lot of trauma and all on that boat and they kept them out there for 30 hours watching that rig burn and unable to talk to their families or anything and them guys went through a lot… But I think in the future we could do a better job of getting these hands on the beach and taking care of them.”

Jimmy Wayne Harrell Offshore Installation Manager (In charge of day-to-day operations) Transocean

May 26 (pdf)

“There was, I remember there was a slight argument that took place in a difference of opinion, and the company man was basically saying, "Well, this is how it's going to be." And the tool-pusher and the OIM reluctantly agreed.”     Douglas Harold Brown Chief mechanic Transocean

Earlier Transcripts

May 11 (pdf)

May 12 (pdf)

Some things that the American people and the American government need to at least QUESTION:

"Facts only here (in no particular order) – you draw the conclusions.

1. In the weeks prior to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe BP CEO Tony Hayward sold 1/3 of his BP shares, using the money to pay off his family mansion.
2. During those same few weeks Goldman Sachs shorted 44% of its BP holdings, while Wachovia and UBS sold 98% and 97% of their BP holdings.
3. CEO Tony Hayward made $4.5 million last year = $12,000 A DAY – even since the Deepwater explosion
4. Deepwater Horizon oil rig owner, Transocean, made a whopping $270 million off the explosion and oil leak.
5. Part of BP’s cost-benefit analysis for determining how well to build employee housing included a document comparing employees to the Three Little Pigs, ultimately determining that dead employees were worth more to the company than what the more expensive and safer housing would cost.
6. President Obama just appointed his THIRD Monsanto executive to a top Food/Ag position in US Government. If you want a better understanding of how Monsanto operates, rent the documentary Food, Inc.
7. Carl Casale, Director at Nalco (manufacturer of Corexit) is also EVP/CFO of Monsanto.
8. Rodney Chase, another Director at Nalco was previously Deputy Group Chief Executive at BP.
9. Despite much more efficient alternatives, BP defied EPA’s order to find a more suitable solution than Corexit.
10. While they could have been testing this better alternative, BP and USCG were ignoring it.
11. Scientific data points to the long-term ineffectiveness and damage to overall ecosystem from use of dispersants, demonstrating cases where nature fared far better when oil was left untreated by chemical dispersants.
12. Reams of data testify to the toxic nature of Corexit, including it’s hazardous impact on both wildlife and humans. And still clean up workers are not being provided masks or critical safety equipment for working around it. And The EPA has done no more than a mere suggestion that BP use alternative remedies. Google it. Too many links out there documenting this to list.
13. Corexit has NEVER been used in this quantity, at these depths. This is unprecedented – a giant science experiment we allow BP to conduct in our back yards.
14. This dispersant use may be a direct violation of federal law.
15. Last minute arguments after the rig exploded point to…. well, see for yourself.
16. Since 1990 BP and its employees have given $3.4 million to federal candidates. Their highest paid yet? Obama.
17. The MMS, the branch of government in place to oversee and regulate the oil industry actually considered themselves part of the oil industry. We now know that the MMS spent years accepting lavish gifts from the oil industry and doing drugs while on the taxpayer’s dime (all outlined in this Federal Report).
18. BP insists that CEO Tony Hayward has moved to improve its overall safety. If that’s so, let the record show it: Since 2007 BP has accounted for 97% of all serious safety violations in the industry (that’s compared with all other companies in the entire industry – COMBINED). Is that an improvement? I suppose it could actually be.
19. Whistleblower’s within BP were silenced, not only by BP, but by the DOJ, who shut down an important investigation and gave BP a “slap on the wrist”. The lead investigator, who had reams of evidence into the criminal nature of BP’s operations, has retired. This article is truly a MUST READ. This is investigative journalism at its finest.
20. In 2009 BP was fined $87M for “life-threatening safety failings” where 439 “willful and egregious” safety violations had been found at one of its Texas refineries. The reason for the fine? Not the original safety failing – but rather for failing to make agreed upon safety upgrades to the Texas refinery after the explosion and fire that killed 15 people. Is this progress according to Hayward?
21. BP is now sitting on another ticking time bomb in the Gulf of Mexico. The BP oil rig Atlantis is sitting in 7,000 feet of water, and is in violation of a host of safety regulations. The BP contractor who originally raised concerns about these violations had his contract terminated shortly after he alerted management to the rig’s lack of crucial engineering documents in late 2008. Improvements on safety?
22. The Deepwater Horizon itself had a lengthy history of safety violations. But really, at this point, did you need to be told that?
23. Today is the 46th day since this tragedy began. The clean up efforts along the Gulf Coast remain a fragmented, uncoordinated mess. No branch of the military has been called in to oversee and coordinate coastal wide clean up efforts – a perfect job for the Army. Our military is equipped to orchestrate the take down and re-assembly of a foreign country, but when our shores need protecting our leaders do not call on them. This may be the most baffling, and disturbing, fact of all.
24. UPDATE June 7: Damning account of evidence rig operators knew and warned BP repeatedly of the danger on Deepwater Horizon. Rig workers testify they were told by BP and supervisors to “cut corners”.
25. You might be inclined to think hefty penalties are forthcoming thanks to lawsuits, but you should consider this: more than half the federal judges in the coastal region have strong ties to the oil industry.
26. And more evidence the use of Corexit was planned by BP far in advance, against evidence that it ranks 16th on the list for effectiveness on Louisiana crude. “No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product.” Is it any wonder that the people are skeptical when EPA tries to assure them Corexit is not harmful?
27. UPDATE June 10: Okay this has to be added to this list. I’m a huge Warren Buffett fan but this fact is too closely related to omit. Last year Warren Buffett purchased 8.7 million shares of Nalco (manufacturer of Corexit).
28. Berkshire Hathaway is now the largest shareholder in Nalco. Thanks to Sarah for the head’s up on this.

I’m quite certain that simply following the money trail will explain a lot about why a dispersant, which isn’t even listed in the TOP 10 most effective dispersants for Louisiana crude, is being dumped by the millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico… on Louisiana crude. Corexit is barely 50% effective, compared with rival Dispersit, which is 100% effective. Bioremediation aside, if you’re going to insist on dispersants, why the hell wouldn’t you select the one that is MOST EFFECTIVE??

And worse, why it is now being dumped from helicopters in residential areas, such as Barataria Bay. EPA – Why are you turning a blind eye to this toxic dumping on our citizens?? Investigative journalists – where are you on this one??"

- from the Clean the Gulf Now website.

"We all have wings*, but some of us don't know why..."

To DeAnna and friend, I hope you found my reply to your comment in the midst of all this chemistry and grief. I decided to post this right here in case you checked in. I didn't want you to miss my heartfelt thank you note and explanation*.  To you two and ALL the angels we met along the trail, friends and strangers who helped us out and cheered us on and bought us meals and gave us comfy beds to sleep in on this first leg of the journey, thank you, bless you. This is the kind of spirit that will help us all get through the very worst of it. It's also the reason we - the human race - are worth fighting for (despite SO much evidence to the contrary sometimes). As bad as people and things can be, there is also a true sense of hope and goodness in so many, that has nothing to do with race, gender, age, religious affiliation or life style that persists and it's worth working and fighting and changing for. We saw a lot of it while we were out there. Thank you.


*You got a pair, now let 'em flap. :D
**I sometimes forget that people who don't even KNOW me might be reading this. ;)

 "The reason I'm doing this [filter test on video] is because Pensacola is still allowing people to come and swim in the water now. They've rescinded the double red flags and the Health Advisory, they've got black bags covering the signs so they are allowing people in the water... This [shows result of fish tank filter held in water for 10 seconds and shows result to camera:]  is why people shouldn't be swimming in the water... This is why Pensacola should be closing beaches down... Kids, adults, they don't need to be swimming in this."

- Diana Stephens

Everyone in this country needs to watch this video, especially those with the power to help.

Write to your representatives, let your voice be heard!!!
Contact info for the Senators of the 111th Congress:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

 Friday at 12:06pm 

Here's the letter I wrote to Senator Burr today, and I sent similar letters to Congressmen Hagan and Shuler:

Dear Senator Burr,
I appreciate your reply. From the sound of this letter, there is a lot being done to investigate blame and hold the appropriate parties responsible, and I see how important this is to the whole process, however people and animals are down there in the Gulf being exposed to dangerous, toxic chemicals and environmental situations right now. I have been down there, right on the waterline for three weeks now, since June 1, working with individuals and volunteers to try to help local people get organized and mobilized. People are out of work, mentally and emotionally strained beyond the point of coping in many cases. Babies, children and pregnant mothers are possibly being exposed to very harmful toxins in the rain and the air they breathe, in the groundwater and almost certainly in sand and water at the beaches some of them are STILL playing and swimming in. Animals are dying, people's homes and land are being consumed and ruined forever and you assure me that "From here, we must work hard to stop the spill and to ensure that such a situation does not occur in any of our other offshore production areas."
Does this mean that you intend to continue to support offshore drilling as well as apparently turn a blind eye to the desperate human and environmental need there now? It has become more important now than ever for the American public to be sure where our representatives stand on the subject of disaster and the cost of human lives and our environment, and easier than ever to inform and motivate others to make a necessary change.

I implore you to please consider the immediate health and safety aspects of the disaster that your fellow citizens are living through right now and do whatever you can to help them. Please do whatever you can to support evacuation plans. I am one of many people who live and vote here who have many family members and friends living near and on the Gulf of Mexico, with children, elderly family members and pets to consider as well. We are all responsible, but you have more power than we do. Please use it to help these people. I look forward to your reply,

- Sam Lovelace

http://www.yourcongressyourhealth.org/

Dear Senator,

     We, as American citizens, concerned human beings, fellow Christians and neighbors cannot allow any amount of red tape or rhetoric to undermine the VERY real need to have a solid emergency and evacuation plan in place for the people all along the Gulf of Mexico NOW!
While courts argue about money and blame, the health and lives of millions of Americans are at risk, and no one in the government seems to care about this except Governor Bobby Jindal, as far as I can see. I read the letters he wrote on behalf of his people requesting 6,000 National Guard troops, medical supplies and an evac plan to be put in place. He wrote that letter on April 29 and there is no sign of these things there, and if they are then the people don't know about them. They are scared, they are uninformed, they are at risk. Every citizen within 100 miles of the Coast should have been issued an organic vapor respirator before the oil made landfall. 
     This is the responsibility of every American citizen who is able to help, but most especially that of our government. There is a human need and an immensely dangerous, toxicl disaster, caused in part by lack of Government regulations, threatening the health and lives of millions of Americans. Their health and lives are in the hands of those who care, and this is why I am so worried about them. No one seems to CARE. Please be the one who makes that change. Those people are depending on you.

- Sam Lovelace

You can also use this resource to write to the Senators of other states. Let your voice be heard!!!
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

"If Alex forces a work stoppage at the ruptured BP well, officials fear that as much as 2.5 million gallons of oil could flow into the Gulf for two weeks. It would take 14 days to put everything back in place, meaning the containment cap would be off for that period, allowing oil to flow freely, Allen said... BP said the storm has not forced any evacuations at the oil spill site. But, to the south, BP and Shell were evacuating all nonessential personnel from oil platforms as a precaution."

Palo Alto, CA Weather / Stormpulse / Hurricanes, severe weather, tracking, mapping

www.stormpulse.com

"In May, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an above-average season with 14 to 23 named storms forming by Nov. 30. The most active season on record was 2005, when 28 storms formed, including Hurricane Katrina, which caused New Orleans levees to fail, flooding the city and killing more than 1,800 people.
This month, Colorado State University researchers boosted their forecast, calling for 18 named storms, 10 of them becoming hurricanes. AccuWeather increased its outlook to 18 to 21 storms from 16 to 18.
Trailing the storm system now edging toward the Gulf is another area of disturbed weather stretching from the Northern Leeward Islands that has a 10 percent chance of become a storm during the next two days, the center said. If named, it would be called Bonnie."

1.http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/27/gulf.oil.disaster/?fbid=RBkWrzQjC-Q
2.http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-27/tropical-storm-weaker-over-yucatan-spares-bp-cleanup.html

28 minutes ago ·  ·