A new Gallup poll shows that the mental health of people living in the Gulf has dramatically declined after the BP oil spill, with clinical cases of depression up 25%. [More]
oil
How About A Tasty Crude Oil Salad From Shell?
By 9.27.10
Before we had slick and savvy advertising campaigns like the Singimals and the Sticky-Bottomed-Bears, Madison Avenue pumped out some truly demented shlock like Shell’s “oil salad” one-pager from the December 22, 1947 issue of Life. Yummy! Serve me up a salad of asphalt! [More]
Feds Tell Reporter It's Illegal To Build Sand Castles in Florida
By 9.20.10
A journalist who was searching the Florida Gulf Islands National Seashore for signs of oil pollution got a silly reason to go home from federal agents. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative told the WEAR ABC 3 Pensacola reporter, who was using a shovel to dig through the sand, that he needed to produce a permit that said he could do so. Soon after, a National Parks Service rep told the reporter the same thing. [More]
Are You Changing Your Car's Oil Too Frequently?
By 9.13.10
According to the consumer advice editor at Edmunds, if you bought a car in the last seven or eight years, you don’t have to change its oil every 3,000 miles. On these newer models, it’s fine to wait until 7,500 miles or more, although a Pennzoil employee tells the New York Times that you should stick with what your manual advises (which is still probably less frequent than every 3,000 miles). You can also check out this California State list of guidelines for different cars. [More]
Petroleum Platform Explodes In The Gulf Of Mexico
By 9.2.10
Because the water in the Gulf of Mexico wasn’t screwed up enough as it is, now come reports that an offshore petroleum platform has exploded and is on fire in the Gulf Mexico, approximately 80 miles off the Louisiana coast. [More]
Gulf Fish "Trying To Crawl Out Of The Water"
By 8.25.10
“Jubilee” is a fun word. Down in the Gulf, it means when fish, crabs, eels and shrimp flood to the shoreline to escape oxygen-deprived waters. It’s a big party as locals scoop up seafood by the bucket-load. While the phenomenon naturally occurs when strong winds stir up hypoxic water from the bottom, for the first time ever it’s being seen occur in open water, with the fish flocking to the water’s surface. Said one fisherman, “It looks like all of the sea life is trying to get out of the water.” [More]
BP Says Well Is Plugged, Report Says 3/4 Of Oil Gone
By 8.4.10
BP says that they have stoppered up the well leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. They have filled the well up with mud and reached the desired pressure, they say, a maneuver known as “Static Kill.” [More]
BP To Test New Cap
By 7.13.10
BP has attached a new, snugger cap – with the cheery moniker of “Top Hat 10 – on the gushing Gulf well and will soon begin tests to see if they didn’t cock things up for once. [More]
You're Paying Oil Pipeline Owners' Income Taxes
By 7.7.10
Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston has discovered a dirty little tax secret pipeline owners would like to keep more hidden than a giant plume of oil under the ocean. Turns out that when you pump gas into your car, you’re actually paying oil pipeline owners’ income taxes. [More]
Video: Stepping In Tarballs A Beach Vacation Lowpoint For Little Girl
By 6.28.10
This video shows a lgirl stepping into a tarball on a Destin, FL and screaming for her mother to get it off. The politicians and billboards are telling people to never mind the oil spill, come down to the shore, the water’s fine. Some of them are, but this beach is not, not today. [More]
BP-Hired Mercenaries Keep Reporters From Interviewing Workers
By 6.17.10
This video shows a BP-hired mercenaries working for “Talon Security” trying to keep WDSU-New Orleans reporter Scott Walker from talking to cleanup crews on a public beach. I would normally say something like, “Apparently they didn’t get the memo last week from from National Incident Commander Thad Allen and BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles that the media is to have full access to oil-affected areas and to cleanup workers,” – except that the mercs in the video are perfectly aware of the memos, and yet continue to obstruct the journalist! [More]
Know Your BP Gulf Disaster Charity
By 6.14.10
Before you rip up your checkbook or rush down to pitch in, make sure you get to know the BP Gulf disaster-related charity you’re getting in bed with. [More]
Show Your Support For BP By Filling Up At ARCO, AM/PM
By 5.31.10
Since BP is doing such a great job cleaning up that oil spill, it’s only right that consumers show their support for the quicker, thicker picker-uppers by bringing their business to subsidiaries ARCO and AM/PM, and greasing the wheels with BP’s Castrol Motor Oil. [More]
Costumed Sea Creatures Occupy NYC BP Station
By 5.28.10
A gaggle of costumed sea creatures plan to occupy the SoHo BP station in NYC tonight at 6pm to protest the company’s response to the oil spill. However, while the threat of makeshift sea turtles descending on Houston and Lafeyette is wonderful to contemplate, because BP stations are independently-owned, only the local business owner will be harmed by the disruption in commerce. Media points against BP will be harder to score. This particular station is a mecca for taxi cab drivers in the area, who will most likely find any difficulties in getting gas on a busy holiday weekend night to be less than hilarious. UPDATE: Local news coverage: [More]
BP Oil Spill More Like 12,000-19,000 Barrels Per Day
By 5.28.10
First BP told us 1,000, then 5,000, and now a joint federal and independent research task force estimates that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil were spewing into the Gulf since the crisis began, NYT reports. If the numbers are right, then we’re talking about as much as 30 million gallons. That would be more than 3x the amount from the Valdez disaster. [More]
"Top Kill" Seems To Be Working, Says US
By 5.27.10
BP’s latest efforts to fix the oil spill seem to be actually stopping the geyser of oil, the Coast Guard cautiously announced this morning. The final word isn’t in yet, but might something in the Gulf might be going right for once? I dare not even utter hope’s name. [More]
BP Starts Operation "Top Kill," Watch It Live
By 5.26.10
BP has started operation “Top Kill,” and we’ve embedded here the live videostream of their latest attempt to plug the well. The maneuver involves pumping heavy drilling mud and cement into the well. While routine on surface wells, it’s never been attempted at 5,000 ft underwater. And if it goes south and the blowout preventer cracks under the pressure, it could make matters worse. Bust out the popcorn! I just saw a robot arm! [More]
Satirical BP Twitter Account Has More Followers Than Real One
By 5.25.10
A fake BP PR twitter account, BPGlobalPR, has started posted satirical tweets about the company’s response and attitude to the oil spill, and it has more followers than of the real BP Twitter accounts combined. And why not? Would you rather read, “BP Pledges $500 Million for Independent Research into Impact of Spill on Marine Environment” or “Doing our best to turn oil into oilinade. So far the stuff tastes TERRIBLE.” [More]
