Where there's fire, there's smoke...

Least Tern eggs barely missed by clean-up equipment tires running across a gulf beach.




It's too late to say, "where there's smoke, there's fire."   It's been a raging inferno for about 57 days now.  But excellent reporting by both professional news organizations and unofficial citizen reporters is unearthing a whole lotta smoke.  Maybe we should put journalists in charge of the regulatory agencies.  If you're not caught up on the BP oil spill news, here are a few headlines:

Documents Show Risky Decisions Before BP Blowout
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: June 14, 2010
New York Times

Internal BP documents, including an e-mail message calling the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon a “nightmare,” show a pattern of risky choices made to save time and money in the weeks before the disastrous April 20 blowout, according to a letter sent to the oil company by the leaders of a House committee on Monday....more

Foreign Flagging of Offshore Rigs Skirts U.S. Safety Rules
The Marshall Islands, not the U.S., had the main responsibility for safety inspections on the Deepwater Horizon.
June 14, 2010
By Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger, Tribune Washington Bureau
L.A. Times

Reporting from Washington — The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico was built in South Korea. It was operated by a Swiss company under contract to a British oil firm. Primary responsibility for safety and other inspections rested not with the U.S. government but with the Republic of the Marshall Islands — a tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean....more

Gov. Bobby Jindal Orders National Guard to Build Barrier Wall Off Louisiana Shore
Louisiana Gov. Takes Matters Into Own Hands, But Will BP Foot the Bill?
By DAVID MUIR
June 14, 2010
ABC News

Eight weeks into the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of the Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has told the National Guard that there's no time left to wait for BP, so they're taking matters into their own hands...more

More Dispersant? Asking Hard Questions
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
June 2, 2010, 12:47 pm
New York Times

In announcing on Saturday that BP would end efforts to plug the gulf oil leak through a “top kill” and focus instead on capturing oil until a relief well is in place, Rear Adm. Mary Landry of the Coast Guard said that the use of dispersants would inevitably continue...more

This heartbreaking American Birding video had me in tears...




Tern chicks somehow survive tire overrun.



Grand Isle Gulf Spill Clean Up Sweeps Up Least Tern Colony From: AmericanBirding
June 14, 2010

Drew Wheelan from the American Birding association demonstrates the lack of environmental oversight associated with the Deepwater Horizon clean up response. Sensitive Least Tern nests are literally driven over by clean up crews, and failed nests discovered. Please call your senator and demand better...more