Archive for June, 2010
Sperm whales feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth’s oceans have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals, according to American scientists who say the findings spell danger not only for marine life but for the millions of humans who depend on seafood.
A report released Thursday noted high levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium in tissue samples taken by dart gun from nearly 1,000 whales over five years.
From polar areas to equatorial waters, the whales ingested pollutants that may have been produced by humans thousands of miles away, the researchers said.[...]
Payne called his group’s $5 million project the most comprehensive report ever done on ocean pollutants. U.S. Whaling Commissioner Monica Medina informed the 88 member nations of the whaling commission of the report and urged the commission to conduct further research.
Human-caused pollution, including deadly toxins and heavy metals, are reaching into the farthest corners of the ocean and into the systems of the largest creatures on earth.Even if you didn’t care about whales, the fact remains that they are at the top of the food chain, a reflection of what all of the other creatures are consuming, in even the most remote waters.
The fish that some whales eat are also consumed by people—one billion of whom count fish as their primary protein source–and the consequences cannot be avoided. “The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings,”
Last night on day 57 of the BP oil disaster, we heard Obama give the speech he should have given 50 days ago. All through the first half of the speech I kept thinking, “ya, ya I’ve heard that already… move on!“
True to form, once the first part of the “See how tough I am and I really can lead this government” speech/ propaganda was finished, he launched into his “now is the time to for us to go green and stop relying on oil … yada, yada, yada!” He devoted a third of this speech to Cap ‘n Trade and new legislation that we cannot afford or want!
Part of his pitch was to tell America the reason we’re here is because we are running out of places to drill … liar, liar, pants on fire … we have plenty of places to drill, many much closer to the shore, on land, up in Anwar etc. It is the extremists on the left who keep insisting we ignore our own natural resources … that we stop using coal, gas, oil, nuclear … anything other than those green alternatives/companies that they have invested in.
Here’s what else you didn’t hear. There’s an oil glut in the world!
According to a recent article on the Esquire Politics Blog:
Here’s the news that really got buried headed into the weekend: Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister had his first substantive and detailed talk yesterday with Coast Guard officials in Louisiana regarding the viability and importance of deploying supertankers to the Gulf in an effort to recover the oil in the water before it ruins any more coastline.
Hofmeister has been extraordinarily tenacious in pursuit of this idea, and hopefully this breakthrough signifies serious movement toward action.
(According to Hofmeister) After all, it is not as if BP would have trouble finding supertankers to clean up the Gulf.
In all the world, there are 538 VLCC’s, or Very Large Crude Carriers.
[...] of these 538 supertankers dotting the oceans of the world, 47 were basically inert, being used for something (akin to) “floating storage.” That is, they were full of crude oil, going nowhere!
And half of these are full of Iranian heavy crude, which for various reasons no one seems to want. The point of this being that we’ve got a glut of crude on the market at the moment, and it is cheaper to store the oil on 47 of these tankers than sell it. This phenomenon is what is known in the petroleum business as a “contango,” where the delivery price exceeds the market price that you can get for the oil.
Want more? Europe is facing a refining capacity glut and the possibility of facility closures! Read about it here and here!
