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Subscribe to RSSNew Orleans photographer Jerry Moran isn’t the only person who thinks chemical dispersants are still being sprayed in the Gulf of Mexico.
Last week, msnbc.com published a story on Open Channel documenting the apparent continued use of dispersants beyond the official cutoff date of July 19 by response teams working on the Gulf oil spill. Laboratory testing of samples from a large patch of reddish foam found floating near Horn Island, off the coast of Mississippi, on Aug. 9 found that the foam was indeed composed of chemical dispersant and BP oil.
The documentation lent credence to anecdotal reports from coastal residents that use of the controversial chemicals did not cease in mid-July, as the Joint Command for the oil spill maintains.
The previous Open Channel post prompted a submission by reader Shirley Tillman, who lives in the coastal town of Pass Christian, Miss. Tillman, 60, has been walking the beach for years, and worked with her husband on a “vessel of opportunity” in the clean-up effort until mid-August.
Since mid-July she has been photographing dead wildlife and gunk washing ashore. She feels certain the latter is dispersed BP oil.
“When the tide is coming in, this stuff starts washing up,” said Tillman. “It’s white fluffy, foamy stuff —kind of like a meringue. This stuff clings together … like snot.”
The photographs below, which she says were taken on the beach at Gulfport on Dec. 29, show what she is talking about.
Shirley Tillman
Foam on a beach near Pass Christian, Miss. on Dec. 29. Photographer and local resident Shirley Tillman believes it is oil and dispersant.
According to the official account of the oil spill response, about 1.8 million gallons of the dispersant were applied to break up the oil slick -- about two-thirds sprayed on the surface by boats and planes and the rest injected near the broken wellhead about a mile beneath the surface.
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Shirley Tillman
Sand on a beach in Pass Christian, Miss. The red gunk resembles dispersed oil, according to photographer and local resident Shirley Tillman.
Tillman doesn’t buy the Joint Command’s insistence that the use of dispersants has been halted, and she is not alone in her belief that nighttime air traffic over the gulf is due to dispersant spraying by C-130 aircraft, which also were used during the initial response.
“The air traffic is constant,” she said. Her theory: “Spotter planes go out during the day, write down the problem spots are. … Then you can sit on the beach at night and watch (C-130s) going back and forth.”
Unlike Moran’s goo, the gunk sighted by Tillman has not been laboratory tested to verify her suspicions that it is oil mixed with dispersant. Tillman said she is trying to get chemical testing for the samples she has retrieved from her beach.
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I hope this doesn't surprise anyone. All of that oil hasn't just up and gone. And beware seafood from shallow near-shore environments.
But didn't Sarah Palin tell us that we need to trust the oil companies???
You mean the government owned C-130s crewed by US Armed forces personnel are being directed by Sarah Palin?
What a moronic reply. Sarah warned us that the Obama administration was covering up the truth about the response and has continually challenged this administration's claims that the spill has been cleaned up. She fought the oil companies in Alaskaand beat them. Why are you cowardly rednecks so afraid of a strong and intelligent woman? BTW....How's that "change" working out for you?
No Bob, Phil was talking about Sarah PALIN.
You are so right Fred, Poor Bob has a problem I guess. He can't see the forest as the trees are in his way! Sara Palin has to be one of the dumbest people on this planet. She is trailer trash that sucks all the money out of any situation she can. She is a selfish, self centered evil bitch. Just ask the Alaskan people. If the media would start to ignore her people like Bob might smarten up as he would have some intelligent people to listen to. Look at how she dresses, she is a tramp, low life garbage and if it weren't for McCain she would still be sitting up there whining. Any time anyone says something she doesn't like she cries that the media is picking on her. She should be shot for treason for all the lies she has spread so poor people like Bob is in the dark after listening to her. She has caused a lot of problems for this country.
I got it. HeHe!
Yup. Won't be having any gulf seafood for the next....oh...40 years.
Just another GOVERNMENT coverup - Americans are use to that! (those Americans that can think)
There is so much money involved here that some cover up is inevitable. Money talks - everything else walks...be that the environment, the coastal inhabitants - whatever. B.P. has the money and the government influence to "handle" this thing - in whatever manner necessary. Trust oil companies? I'm an Alaskan - those aren't Sarah Palin's words, but regardless, if you think B.P. will actually foot the bill for this disaster, you weren't paying attention when Exxon spilled oil up North. They have never settled that bill. Never will. Many of the original folks involved in the lawsuit have simply died. B.P. will outlast this storm just as Exxon did. It will remain tied up in court, covered up by dispersants....whatever it takes.
Evil Fred and memoreof10 just go to prove my point abount toothless, uneducated rednecks afraid of a strong and intelligent woman. If their woman gets out of line, they crack her in the mouth to keep her in line. Sorry to report men (and I use that term jokingly), but those ways of interacting with women and your braindead thoughts of male superiority are long gone. If either of you two idiots got into an intelligent discussion with Sarah Palin, you would both be exposed as the idiots you are. You need to stop watching the whining channels of MSNBC and CNN and start using that excuse for a brain that is supposed to be in your head (not your pants).
LOL, well, since it's Ms. Palin we're discussing, I think there's very little chance of that happening.
I'm anything but misogynistic (ask my wife, my mom, or my daughters). Can you get your head out of your tail long enough to grasp the idea that she should be an embarrassment for you? Are you truly so obtuse that you don't see her as she really is?
And for the record, as much as I dislike her politically, I think memereof10 went too far. Palin's an idiot, but she's not evil. She, apparently like you Bob, simply fails to think things all the way through. Too few sources of information, too little intellectual curiosity...
Remember, BP is the same company who pressured the UK government into releasing a convicted terrorist so they could get an oil deal. All while showing us commercials about how responsible they were, with happy cartoon kids.
All the oil companies engage in scummy deals. This is the scummiest, however, for US citizens. So....keep buying their gas? Go ahead and support them. Good idea - NOT!
I didn't think that the worst oil spill in this country just de-materialized, and Government and Corporate forces would have us believe.
This seems a bit like uneducated paranoia--the foam looks pretty much exactly like cellulose after being tossed and dissolved in the waves for a while. The gunk...the photo isn't very clear (just looks like sand...) and I don't really feel like looking it up, though this may be valid.
What's taking so long for the analysis? You could be right or you could be wrong but both sound plausible.
But.. would YOU swim in it ? Or even think of eating seafood from the Gulf. This has been a great boon for Walmart trading partners... you know like Viet Nam.
You would make an "official news reporter?" Maybe yes & or maybe "NO!!!!"
Try flagging the ads, Odin. Probably a more reasonable way to get them shut down than complaining to the poster. ;^P
Where to start... there is plenty of evidence that the continued and near shore/ inland use of dispersants has been covered up. How about eye witness reports from the crews that used them, contradictory statements from public officials about where and when, photos of barrels of Corexit appearing on the docks months after "discontinuance", EPA, Florida DEP, and independent testing all positive for dispersant compounds months after "last use" and over a hundred miles from the wellhead, photos of dispersant barges just off shore frequently followed by fish and crab kills the next day on the beach, surfers and life guards with respiratory problems, skin lesions and coughing up blood after exposure. The Florida DEP discontinued it's water testing program after two samples were positive for DOSS on 8-16-10. Why stop testing when your results show positive ?... because they don't actually want to find anything. My beach today has tarballs washing up and old oil being uncovered at the toe of the dune... but the state and crews are ready to declare it clean and close up shop so as not to disturb Spring tourism.
You aren't suggesting that your government is lying to you, are you? We certainly know that BP has nothing to hide, therefore no incentive to deny the truth.
Gulf Surfer, the gulf disaster will be with us for decades, the gov. covers up to profit all the big oil co.s, the health of the people who eat our seafood won't be affected for years and they will blame it on something else. Big oil rules the gulf region. The Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, is a great univ. which has continued the research on the effects on the surface and on the bottom sea floor. One of the few univ.s not bought off by BP. The old, "money talks, bs walks." I am a Floridian and very worried about the health of our neighbors. I don't eat the seafood anymore, either. Good post!
Whoa, Whoa, Wait a minute...Didn't BO's crack(pot) team of Environmental Scientists tell us that it was cleaned up w/in a month of the well being capped? These photos are obviously from the Danube River bank in Bratislava during the Ol' Iron Curtain Soviet Era.
Where to start... there is plenty of evidence that the continued and near shore/ inland use of dispersants has been covered up. How about eye witness reports from the crews that used them, contradictory statements from public officials about where and when, photos of barrels of Corexit appearing on the docks months after "discontinuance", EPA, Florida DEP, and independent testing all positive for dispersant compounds months after "last use" and over a hundred miles from the wellhead, photos of dispersant barges just off shore frequently followed by fish and crab kills the next day on the beach, surfers and life guards with respiratory problems, skin lesions and coughing up blood after exposure. The Florida DEP discontinued it's water testing program after two samples were positive for DOSS on 8-16-10. Why stop testing when your results show positive ?... because they don't actually want to find anything. My beach today has tarballs washing up and old oil being uncovered at the toe of the dune... but the state and crews are ready to declare it clean and close up shop so as not to disturb Spring tourism.
Christ almighty. Give me some links. I'd love to read up on this because I have heard nothing about some of this. Coughing up blood? Yikes!
Google "Florida oil spill law" site. They have alot of stories from here on the Gulf.
Thanks Sandtill
RiverDog- I am not a news reporter. These are things I have personally experienced or have been told by the person who personally experienced it. Most of it is in the media though if you look. For the EPA, DEP, and Independent testing results check:
http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/water.html
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/water.htm#walton
http://www.surfrideremeraldcoast.org/watertestingresults/
As mentioned above, I believe oil spill law site and Huffington Post have both published corexit photos, though I have seen these personally. Several VOO operators have publicly stated that dispersants were used in inland and nearshore areas. I have been present when these statements were made. I experienced the health effects and also spoke with friends that had the same. My own blood work came back positive for PAH toxins. I have personally reported the suspected dispersant barges to HHS and Coast Guard at the time they were present. I supplied time, location, and photos. They did respond and requested more information but reported having no knowledge about the vessels or these operations in the Gulf. Please also understand that I and the other folks involved share these things with personal risk -as people in my community have been threatened for sharing such information. Yes, I have filed police reports -but prevention is more important than catching a criminal after the crime, so enough said here. Thank you for your interest in our situation, perhaps together we can all prevent any similar ugly chapter in our nations history.
Thanks Surfer. I appreciate the time you put into it!
It seems the Coast Guard is more concerned with minimizing BP's liability than the health and welfare of the Gulf Coast residents. I remember when this was all going on the Coast Guard was blocking media access to devastated parts of the coast and prohibiting cameramen from photographing oiled wildlife. This seems like a strange way to spend American tax dollars, protecting the interests of a foreign corporation. I guess the corporations really are running this country.
Orders from the Comander and Chief.
the first picture looks like skimmate, it is made when the waste product of the ocean animals gets airated...like by crashing waves, that is why it is found along the shore.
With BP anything is possible. I, like all other residents, property and business owners along the Gulf Coast would like to believe that the oil has been taken care of properly and that life will soon return to "normal" but it’s not, the visitors are not coming, the payments from BP or now The Gulf Coast Claims Center are slow and the process is ever changing. Even when you complete the claim forms exactly as instructed the claims, through legitimate, are being denied. Now everyone is being told to accept a "final payment", a settlement that releases BP and Gov't of any future responsibility. The sad reality is that we will have to continue to deal with the after effects of the of the oil spill for years to come, long after it is a distant memory for most people. The people along the Gulf Coast are resilient and will continue to fight for what is true and just as they always do now will ask the officials in charge of the clean up to do the same!
Any cover up of this matter by the government would be shameful. The long term effects of a spill of this magnitude are unprecedented and certainly not well understood. BP is trying to force the hand of those impacted to sign away their legal rights for a sum of $5000. BP is certainly civily responsible and given then level of negligence, criminal charges should be filed as well.
Why is this so shocking? Just wait until we start getting sick from the seafood!
I am curious as to where the oil is. Did it disburse into the gulf and out to the atlantic ? Is it sitting at the bottom of the gulf ? If it is, will it surface when it gets warm again ? Or will it roll around on the bottom , and form tarballs and eventually wash ashore on the beaches? If it is still in the gulf, what will a hurricane do to it ? Will it wash ashore in a storm or get churned up like a washing machine , never to be seen again.? How many years will it take to know all the answers ?
Much of the remaining petroleum is at some depth, maybe 1000 feet or more. But it keeps moving up and in, in fairly small amounts but enough to be a problem. It will break down over years but the most easily degraded fractions have already been degraded. It's an interesting biochemistry problem considering what bacterial enzymes might be able to break down the more "indigestible" fractions; but it won't happen quickly. You have to consider the 4 R's in this situation: Rate, Route, Reaction, Reservoir. And really, don't believe BP.
The Univ. of S. Florida, Tampa, reports that a 3" thick layer of oil, mixed with disspersant covers the sea floor, 50 miles away from the wellhead. They are still not allowed close to the wellhead site. Why? The USF web site is a good research site.
I disagree with Carol. I have seen the foam that forms along the beach but have never seen any that looks as solid as this seems to be. It does not look like the foam that occasionally forms along our Texas beaches.
I live on the upper TX coast...seen many a tar ball in my 55+ yrs. coming ashore from most likely from ships that are incoming for the refineries. This summer I witnessed tar balls the size of pickup trucks that were rapidly being cleared by unknown agents of whomever did'nt want them seen. I dread the thought of how much dispersants have been used to eradicate the visible results of the spill of this extreme. If anyone believes it has just disappeared then I have alot of seacoast property for sale!!! It would be a great place to raise your kids and open a Gulf seafood resterant. This is Texas...not the full impact areas like east of here in La. , Miss., Ala. and Fla. Oil is a very profitable power. You are now paying for the disaster as you fill up at the now $.50 a gallon higher gas prices. The people of the Gulf Coast are stuck with it no matter how you look at it. I believe we deserve better treatment from the powers that be...but I'm sure the self-righteous idiots I see commenting here see it as a handout.
All this stuff goes back to the "its gone, been spent, and everyone is happy ". Whats done is done. Thats the official response from Washington. All the party wiggs got tons of bucks in their coffers. The average joe got nothing but empty promises. So whats new? Vote for the guy and what does he do. Money!!!
Wake up and smell the OIL..!!!!! 9/11 was and still IS a INSIDE-JOB www.buildingwhat?.org
hmhn65, you are a callous and complete waste of oxygen. You actually have the nerve to do a business plug here of all places? Such a sad commentary...
SERIOUSLY hmhn65. What were you thinking. I am sure you will get zero orders from me.
Without a doubt the entire tragedy of the gulf spill has been continuously cloaked in cover-up and deceit. I trust the locals know what they are seeing...a good question is if they are still spraying dispersants, WHY? When many Americans suspected other sites of oil leaks on the ocean floor from this deep water well...maybe they were correct...maybe the "successful capping of the well" was not completely successful in stopping ALL leaking oil...and maybe other (unreported) oil leaks/spills are the reason for continued dispersants. WE KNOW that the public is never made aware of most oil well breaches and spills, if the public can be kept uninformed, they are. Most likely the only reason we know about this well spill is they couldn't hide the explosion of the rig that proceeded the spill. The explosion and spill was criminal...BP should face criminal charges and ALL deep water drilling/production should be permanently halted. Unfortunately, corporate powers are running our country (and others) and will never put the public and environmental best interest ahead of profits. Shame on some of our elected officials for their willful compliance/silence...AND BEING BOUGHT. A BETRAYAL OF TRUST THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO ANSWER FOR SOME DAY.
Let's see some test results before jumping to conclusions.
Let's cross fingers and hope for a Wikileaks.
Governments and corporations depend on secrecy above and beyond what is truly necessary for their operations. I wouldn't blame BP for trying for secrecy in the name of protecting the shareholders from the wrath of their victims.
Bring on the independent testing and the slow turning of bureaucratic wheels..
It is refreshing to see that this is being covered on the 'MainStream Media' (FINALLY). The local TV news down in the Gulf was barred from even doing interviews this past summer, and scientists were barred from digging up sand on the beaches By Wackenhut, the PRIVATE security 'public/private partnership' hired by Thad Allen, Barry Soetoro, and British Petroleum...
There are two possible explanations for the continued usage of Corexit 9500 and 9527A:
1) There was WAY MORE OIL in the Gulf than we are being told about, from the TWO wells (Macondo 252 A and B), OR:
2) There is STILL oil leaking from at least one of these wells.
It is definitely a cover-up, due to the usage of the PRE-EQUIPPED AEROSOL DISPERSANT C-130s being flown in the nighttime hours. Many hudred 'local' residents are reporting the 'overflights' which are continuing as of NOW, on the ALTERNET.
DO NOT EVEN get me started about the FACT that the U.S. MILITARY HAS pre-equipped C130s that spray this stuff over the Gulf...I wonder if they begin their target spray pattern by making a BIG WHITE NANO-BARIUM salts/NANO-ALUMINUM AREOSOL 'X' over the spot? (It seems to enhance GPS tracking from space, you know!) LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtM58wPxf60&playnext=1&list=PL212C90ADC71F8A54&index=49
At 1:36 to 1:49, observe the fact that the PATCH on the right arm displays the sight of an airplane SRAYING CHEMICALS. YOUR MILITARY TAX DOLLARS at WORK, killing YOU!
'Spray ON...'
YUP. TRUE STORY.
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/03/5759270-gulf-residents-track-washed-up-gunk
And people wonder why we need WikiLeaks in order to get to the truth.
You know! like it or not! at least someone is out there trying to mitigate this horrendousevent. If your truely worried about it, don't swim and don't eat any ocean products from this area. Sure the government is probably covering up stuff. What else is new. Let dead dogs lay.
That's great! Let dead dogs lay. But what if the dead dogs are in your back yard?
Call public services. What else?
Having fun.
I spent some time along the Alabama, Mississippi gulf shore lines some 18 years ago. I did not and would not have went swimming or any kind of water playing in that area of the gulf then. Am not defending what may or may not be going on now (continued use of chemical disperants) but my experience says this could be anything, since the gulf is generally rather dirty. Mean no offense to anyone.
It's from SPERM Whale's !