Allison Addicott

Part I Sweet Crude – Sugar, Petroleum and Outrage

Right now, at the global and national levels, one experiences what might be termed a “call to outrage”. Beckoned by the media or simply human observation, citizen consumers continue to speak out in rational and sometimes less-than-rational voices.  By “outrage” in the following essay, one speaks of a kind of fist-wielding, finger-pointing anger directed away from oneself toward a world perceived as indifferent, as “other”, or perhaps both.

Here, “outrage” is not “phase one” of action, but almost a static disorder of inaction that results in bickering, name-calling and other expressions that serve to break rather than foster communication. Voices and emotions emerge at feverish pitch from many individuals who try to articulate anguish or frustration about one or more current issues. Individuals feel trapped, powerless to stop or effect change as the insensitive wheels of bureaucracy and time grind away before his or her very eyes.

Outrage is warranted, certainly, as a response to many of the horrors that percolate beneath the surface of our sometimes-shiny lives.  But, indeed, will chronic outrage actually help anyone, in the end?

Perhaps one can first offer here a brief overview of issues that demonstrate many justifiable reasons for “outrage”.

Food and Outrage

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906), a novel of the early 20^th century and the heartbreak of an immigrant family serves as a kind backdrop for films like 2009’s Food Inc. Focused upon an unregulated food industry and the lives of workers caught in its web, the readers of Sinclair’s novel helped to bring about stronger laws to protect consumers from food industry negligence.

1906 Chicago meat inspection at Swift Co. from Wikipedia Commons

Similarly, if one watches Food Inc., one may be disgusted and outraged by the film’s documentation of contemporary food industry practices. Sanitized, processed, and artificially preserved food has been the dietary norm for most consumers of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries. Indeed, how long can the ubiquitous corn-based Twinkie last on the shelf?

One need not pay money to encounter the truths Food Inc. attempts to convey. Enter a local grocery store and witness the surgery-room lighting, the stacks of animal parts on white plastic trays, and the air-puffed sugar boxed up for $5.00 a pop. For many the grating sense that something is wrong has infused consumer reality for at least the past two decades. Yet, the monolith of a corn sugar based, highly regulated food industry that produces food but not health remains. Even as the rise of organic food and urban farming offer hope, the base structure remains intact.

Flowing directly from consumer diet to consumer health, one may be outraged that the effective marketing of corporate food has resulted in high levels of disease and toxicity in human bodies of the 21^st century.

People have heard and obeyed the marketers. Kids eat Happy Meals, boxed-up prepackaged lunchmeat meals, and chocolate puff cereals. Obesity now afflicts children and teens, not to mention adults. However, the thriving pharmaceutical industry has come to the rescue. Observe the latest pharmaco-helpful prescriptive for diabetes following on the heels of a Happy Meal ad right in the midst of a televised event like the Super Bowl, or even just an average weeknight at home.

The Jungle and Food Inc address regulatory failures unique to diverging historical contexts. People want to have a voice and make good choices. Yet, as shown in Food Inc, meat industries rely on inhumane and unhealthy conditions for livestock, industry workers and consumers.  Many people have little notion of where to turn. With the rise of local farmer’s markets, the outrage

Fresh produce, grown near Rio de Janeiro for local market photo by Armando Bravo Martinez

about food may ring at a lower pitch than it did a few short years ago. The food industry debacle will most likely continue.

Oil’s Labyrinth

Moving from food to fuel, corporate petroleum and the petroleum-based economy provide the natural resources that support our “nutritional”, food industry endeavors. Indeed, infusing our lives in the form of plastic, upholstery, fertilizer, and fuel, the same industry underwrites ballet, metropolitan symphonies, and of course presidential elections.

Sadly, the defining global event of the past six months has been the oil drilling accident that allowed millions of gallons of oil to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, unchecked, for many months. Those citizens who frequently call for less government and less taxation now pounded, fist-in-hand for more government involvement and accountability. In oversight mode, the government launched directives to BP to find a solution, cap the well, resuscitate decimated wildlife, compensate victims and provide specialized equipment to work at the 1 mile depth of the pulsing source of oil in the ocean floor.

Angered, frustrated, and demoralized Southern citizens watched as the delicate economic balance of the oil industry with Gulf of Mexico tourism, agriculture and seafood industry collapsed. Under the weight of its own negligence, British Petroleum deepwater drilling now symbolizes all that is wrong with a head-in-the-sand approach to global reliance on petroleum.

2007 Oiled seabird in San Francisco Bay

The undersea images of pulsing oil, the twisted carcasses of intelligent marine mammals like dolphins, oil-smothered endangered pelicans and a devastated oyster industry are more than adequate fodder for apocalyptic levels of outrage.

End of Part I

Allison Addicott is a writer and editor. She serves as a managing editor and writer at The Washington Times Communities. Her work also appears at BalkingPoints.com.

San Francisco, CA—(August 2, 2010)

The “State of Reporting” in Washington, D.C. during the past week had been dominated by a shrill buzz around the issue of which news organization would inherit Helen Thomas’ vacated seat in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. When the high-stakes game of musical chairs ended Sunday, and the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) announced its decision, who was literally left standing? According to one source, U.S. News and World Report lost its seat altogether.

White House photo by C. Kennedy shows Helen Thomas in her seat

Dated Aug.1, but made available Aug. 2, the new version of the seating chart (the photo here shows Thomas in pink in her coveted chair) reveals who earned the “right” to occupy that seat. The debate about who had inheritance rights for Thomas’ seat focused upon National Public Radio (NPR), Fox News and Bloomberg.

Some of those who sought to push for NPRcrafted and publicized a petition that argued against Fox News. The action group touted Fox as a partisan source of news that did not uphold a more even-handed journalistic angle and thus did not merit the coveted seat.

In the end, the WHCA chose to grant the center seat in the front row to The Associated Press. National Public Radio landed in the second row – where Fox News had been —  and now Fox gains the AP’s former seat. That seat, as is visible in the chart, is in the front row and to the left.

“It was a very difficult decision,” WHCA said in the statement it posted on the front page of its website. “The board received requests from Bloomberg and NPR in addition to Fox for relocation to the front row, and we felt all three made compelling cases. But the board ultimately was persuaded by Fox’s length of service and commitment to the White House television pool.”

The chair and the story have received a great deal of attention since June, when Thomas’ departure became official. At one point, the Huffington Post White House correspondent, Sam Stein, made news by taking the seat during a press conference with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

A final quote from the WHCA statement sums up the “official word” on the seat arrangement. “These deliberations mark the third time in four years the board has tackled this issue, and we urge members to view seating room changes as an ongoing process that will be revisited again as our industry evolves.”

San Francisco, CA – Yesterday a sea turtle nest was “excavated” from the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The nest was moved at 6pm EDT on Friday, and will travel in a trailer specifically designed for use in the project.  According to the press statement, the nest should arrive at its destination in Florida within 24 hours. This nest is the first of approximately ten nests scheduled to be moved in the coming weeks.

Kemp's Ridley turtles scurry toward the ocean

Acting Seashore Superintendent Nina Kelson said, “The excavation and relocation of a sea turtle nest to another site to be hatched and released is unprecedented for the Service. It is especially significant as this is a Kemp’s Ridley nest, the species that is the rarest of all the endangered sea turtles found along the Gulf coast.”

In total, officials for The National Park Service gathered some eighty-nine eggs.  Most of the officials agree that newly hatched sea turtles stand a better chance of survival if they are relocated to areas less affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The final release location has yet to be determined but it will be on the east coast of Florida, Kelson said.

The Florida Wildlife Commission’s blog comments that,” [We are] moving sea turtle eggs that are within a week of hatching from the beaches in Northwest Florida to a facility on the central-east coast of Florida.  Once the eggs are removed from the nest, they are placed carefully in coolers with dampened sand from the nest, transported in a specially designed, temperature-controlled and air-cushioned truck to the east coast, somewhere near the Cape Canaveral area, and held under carefully monitored conditions until the hatchlings emerge from the eggs.”

“We had to determine the best course of action, given the extraordinary circumstances of this oil spill,” said Dr. Robbin Trindell, the Florida Wildlife Commission’s sea turtle management coordinator. “If we left the hatchlings to fend for themselves, they would face a certain death. While the system we’ve devised will give them at least some chance for survival, it is important to note that relocating nests at any time is also very risky and would only be considered during an unprecedented disaster such as the Deepwater Horizon incident.”

“We don’t move the eggs until they have incubated at least 47-49 days,” Trindell said. “The permitted individuals who check beaches every morning for sea turtle nesting activity have been diligent in marking the nests and keeping data on when the nests were laid, so we have accurate dates for when the eggs can be moved.”

Not enough is known or understood about migrating habits for the biologists to predict precisely how the turtles may adapt to a new release point. They may “eventually return to Northwest Florida to nest.” The other possibility would be that the young turtles return to the point of birth – eastern Florida.

Reproducing turtles construct close to 1000 sea turtle nests each year in Northwest Florida. Each nest typically contains 100-120 eggs.  Loggerhead sea turtles are the most common, but some Kemp’s Ridleys and green turtles are also built.  Many of the nests will be moved by late July, but the process could continue until October, depending further weather conditions, unforeseeable changes, etc.

For information about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill response effort, visit: www.restorethegulf.gov. For information on the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles and for images, visit www.nps.gov/guis/. Other good sites include: to www.fws.gov/northflorida. To report sightings of oiled wildlife, call 866-557-1401. For more information on sea turtle conservation, visit MyFWC.com/SeaTurtle.

San Francisco, CA –

Bold and precocious, and with the gulf aflame, BP announces its latest deal.

With close to 7,000 vessels and 2 million people working daily in the Gulf of Mexico —  simply to gain some handle on the oil disaster, today British Petroleum boldly and unapologetically announced in a press release that it has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to alter its holdings and move forward with business as usual in the Mediterranean Sea.

Healthy dolphins in Mediterranean near oil refinery...

Even as the loss of marine life and human livelihood in the warm waters of the gulf remains underestimated at best, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward announced, “This agreement unlocks a new phase in realizing the huge potential of the Nile Delta basin, which will play an important role in meeting regional energy security needs in the coming decades.”

According to the plan, phase one will garner close to 5 trillion cubic feet of gas in undersea drilling in five offshore fields. They also plan to build a new onshore gas refinery on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, with oil gushing again as soon as 2014.

“BP and EGPC have a long-standing and successful partnership, and the agreement we signed today takes that to a new level in developing these deepwater resources, as well as creating an important source of future growth for BP.”

Endangered Sea Turtle dead on Gulf beach

Saying they seek to “develop” hydrocarbon resources in the North Alexandria and “West Mediterranean” areas – in this infamous West Nile Delta area – they project to yield close to “1 billion cubic feet per day of oil”. Purportedly, this would be a significant addition to the gas available for domestic use in Egypt.

The contract amends the commercial terms and the governance structure for the two concessions located in the West Nile Delta, enabling BP and its German partner RWE AG to proceed with development.

Hesham Mekawi, President of BP Egypt, commented “This is a very important project that is set to unlock a strategic gas resource in the West Nile Delta area, which is significant for Egypt’s energy supply today and the future. The investment in this project, estimated to be $9 billion gross, will reinforce Egypt’s importance as a major source of future oil and gas production.”

A primary presence in Mediterranean and Suez oil business for 50 years, BP claims to provide about 40% of Egypt’s domestic oil. The scale of investment and activities of the West Nile Delta Project is expected to create thousands of job opportunities during the different project phases and will significantly contribute to the growth of petroleum-related industries in Egypt.

Today’s post provides yet another overview of the events taking place in the Gulf of Mexico and around the country with regard to the BP disaster. The third segment of this post focuses upon wildlife and ways you might express your concern for wildlife, for further regulation of the oil industry, etc.

Technology details:

Friday morning President Obama offered a press conference at The White House to clarify the state of the new, more advanced cap currently on the well in the Gulf. He re-iterated information about the volume of oil captured by the current cap. This cap has the potential to capture about 80,000 barrels per day (in excess of the earlier 25,000 barrels per day with the earlier capping model). The president wanted to underscore that the cap solution may work to stop the flow, or it may continue to mitigate the flow as more effective containment devices can be attached to the cap. The science team must analyze data about the amount of pressure the cap puts on the well, and confirm that the pressure does not create greater, more devastating leaks in the seafloor before the relief wells can assume the pressure. As of Saturday, the 17^th, the “integrity” testing continues to measure the seismic activity in the vicinity of the well.

Featured news:

A Whale, photo by Patrick Semansky - AP

“A whale”, a supertanker innovatively tricked out with features designed to accomplish large volume oil-skimming  was rejected as not agile or successful enough to be deployed amidst the thousands of other smaller vessels currently pulling in large volume recovery. After testing the tanker, authorities found that the 1,115 foot long vessel did not pull in much oil at all, but only ocean water with slight sheen. Federal On-Scene Coordinator Admiral Paul Zukunft announced on Friday that it will not be deployed as a part of the Horizon oil spill response “fleet”.  A mutliagency team under the supervision of the U.S. Coast Guard put the vessel through extensive operational tests.  The report found that after significant effort, the amount of oil recovered was negligible, and limited oil beyond sheen was found in the cargo tanks. Smaller, more nimble craft that can work in close proximity to one another seem to be the most effective type of vessel for the spill.

Admiral Thad Allen’s almost-daily press conferences include that he has increased the number of such “skimmers” fighting oil in the Gulf by more than five times to 593 as of Friday. If one takes a long look at all kinds of vessels, more than total 6,800 vessels are at work including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels working to contain and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

Lastly, the spill clean up is dependent upon the use of what has been an inventory of some 2 million “Tyvek “suits per day. People engaged in direct beach clean up wear the usually white, papery, but oil-repellent suits, and a nationwide shortage of the suits may be in the offing.

Wildlife, Damage, and what you can do:

In an attempt to compile a list of things that people can do in response to the disaster (other than travel directly to the site and volunteer), today I spoke with Jim Oswald, a representative of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. The Marine Mammal Center is a well-known animal rescue and rehabilitation facility just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. They also offer a variety of educational opportunities.

photo by Jay K Zephyr on flickr

Within the next few weeks, even the Marine Mammal Center staff will send a team of volunteers, staff, and veterinary professionals directly to the Gulf. I wanted to know precisely who the key players are for the non-mammal marine population. According to Oswald, the primary one is International Bird Rescue and Relief Center. They are in the gulf, and they are the folks who are providing much of the seabird rescue efforts.

Some sources recently released images of dead animals that official sources have avoided providing. Here is a link to this album of hard-hitting images. People may be further motivated to bring their own voices to the fore after seeing these images.

Similarly, through the Natural Resources Defense Council site one can find a number of  petitions. One calls for a move  to prevent British Petroleum from further drilling in Alaska. Another calls for a ban on further offshore drilling.

Still a further option might be to donate to your local wildlife rescue center as a memorial gift for the wildlife that has been and continues to be lost in the Gulf of Mexico. Remember, BP has “promised”  to pay for all claims presented to them for wildlife clean-up, so if you decide to donate funds to various organizations, you will be helping to support important education and operating budget funding. 

Further resources:

Louisiana State Animal response Team (LSART): Volunteer Website

• Audubon Action Center: Sign up information for Gulf Oil Spill

• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has a What You Can Do

• Deepwater Horizon website for more volunteer information

• Take Part has resource list on how to help

Allison Addicott writes “The Flip Side” at The Washington Times Communities, where she also edits “The Public Good” section and serves as Social Media Strategist for the group of 65+ writers. Her work also appears at The Daily Kos and BalkingPoints.com. Allison has lived in many places around the globe including Hawaii, Southern California, Paris and Japan. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives with her two teen children, two cats, and one large English Setter, Oliver, who usually does not bark (much.)

San Francisco, CA-

Is it foolish to rely on corporations at all?  One economist, Robert Reich,  says “Yes”.

The scope of the Horizon Deepwater disaster continues to unfold exponentially. Today we offer a round up of the more compelling angles. The daily meetings held by Admiral Thad Allen and others often focus, at this point, on minutiae of operational successes and glitches that the primary vessels involved with the Lower Marine Riser experience in hourly work. As of late yesterday and early today, one of the ROVs (underwater vehicles) had accidently “bumped” into the riser tube thereby causing yet another effluence of oil directly into the deep gulf waters.

Without engaging in the neck-bending volleys of finger-pointing between the administration, the BP gang and the public, the latest news from the White House is a kind of updated “access dashboard”  for those who seek to volunteer or locate a job working on the frontline of the recovery and repair process, wherever that kind of position might send a person.

As the clean up is now an industry unto itself, many citizens and other observers continue to express a posse-like mentality in the public sphere, calling for the location and  punishment of a variety of culpable figures. Those figures span the range from Tony Hayward, former chief executive for BP, to the still-unnamed figures in management at the moment the oil rig itself collapsed, to the Chairman of  BP Carl-Henric Svanberg aka “Mr. Small People” and beyond.

Driven by a financial industry report,  I contacted Robert Reich, Former Secretary of Labor and Professor of Economics at University of California, Berkeley. I shared with him recent data that JP Morgan Chase held 28.34% of BP (controlling shares) and that JP Morgan Chase had received federal funds in 2007 (even though they reputedly paid those funds back in 2009.) Then I asked if one could point to that information and deduce that BP, if held primarily by JPMC, and if JPMC was bailed out with taxpayers funds, if one go so far as to suggest that BP is, to a certain extent, “us.”

I further explained that I was not attempting to be “flip” or inexact, but simply to crack open the vagaries of corporate control and taxpayer funding. His response: “Good point about JP Morgan Chase. The real problem [with BP] is that BP, like any large corporation, exists to maximize shareholder value, whoever those shareholders happen to be. It does not exist to protect the health or safety of a nation. That’s why it’s foolish to rely on a corporation to fix what it negligently or recklessly created.”  The simple facts about corporations are that they are, indeed, kind of a spider’s web of contractual agreements, taking advantage of our laws that allow an entity such as a corporation many “rights” and privileges accorded a private individual, while a corporation is more like an assembly of  agendas, voices, and functions, really the farthest thing from an individual citizen.

Moving on to the real pain here:  the wildlife recovery process marked a milestone last Sunday with the release of over 40 brown pelicans. View a video here on the Unified Response website.

Thus, this disaster continues to wreak havoc with the temperament and emotional life of the average American. Yesterday, two workers involved in the clean-up died.  Admiral Thad Allen could not comment on the deaths during the press conference yesterday, as he had “just been notified” prior to the conference itself. Rather than experience a kind of “Mad Max” post-petroleum apocalyptic end, will we, instead, drown in our own brown, tarry greed, and pull innocent wildlife down with us? The recent worker deaths seem ominous. And we have yet to witness what happens to this operation when hurricanes do arrive. It looks to be a bumpy summer ride, indeed.

This column first appeared the day of  the press conference in The Washington Times Communities, in my column, “The Flip Side.”

San Francisco, CA — With tones of increasing anxiety, and as the nation continues to keep its fingers crossed for the appearance of a solution for the Deepwater Horizon disaster a mile below the ocean’s surface, today was yet another in a series of less-than-positive news from authorities.  U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles, MMS Gulf of Mexico Region’s Mike Prendergast and Unified Area Command Scientific Support Coordinator Charlie Henry held a press briefing May 29, 2010 to update media on ongoing operations.

photo by USCG

They officially announced that “after three full days” of attempting a “Top Kill” approach solution, the flow of oil continues gushing from the seabed.  The most recent attempt, yesterday, at a “junk shot” – filling the well with bits of everything from pieces of tires to golf balls, was a similar failure. Both Landry and Suttles expressed dismay at the failure of the procedures attempted thus far.

When asked directly about the failure of Top Kill, Suttles replied, “We do not know precisely why Top Kill failed.” In the past, attempts at containment were in accessible locations.  “Executing these options undersea,” he stated, is not quite like anything they have done in the past.

In line with what Landry termed keeping “an aggressive response posture,” they forged the decision to move to another phase only about 90 minutes prior to the beginning of the conference itself. The next step includes an attempt to sever the “riser” and then use a “Lower Marine Riser Package” (LMRP) Cap procedure, which is one of several “containment contingency” options, likely to take anywhere from four to seven days.

The LMRP solution would mean installing a cap that will be connected via riser and drill pipe – it is not a tight mechanical seal, but should capture “most” of the oil. The device would, in theory, collect oil leaking from the top of the blowout preventer. Meanwhile, dispersal fluid will continue to be pumped into the area, with the goal of converting the escaping oil into smaller droplets.

Plans that do remain in place include drilling two important relief wells. The first of the two is already moving forward ahead of schedule. The depth of the relief well is about 18,000 feet. “Right now we are at 12,000, with about 6,000 more to go – remember that the first 5,000 is water”. Suttles offered. He also noted that drilling is more difficult at greater depths. The overall project of drilling relief wells is not expected to be finished until sometime in August.

As the lives of birds, dolphins, oysters, and all delicate forms of wildlife in the region hang in the balance now, so do the livelihoods of thousands of Louisiana residents. Other sources have interviewed local residents, and many make it clear that a way of life may have already vanished. Others simply cannot afford to wait the 5-10 years it might take for the region to recover, even if the gusher abruptly ended now.

When this reporter asked about the oncoming hurricane season and preempting operations, Landry pointed to the region’s familiarity with hurricanes, and the evacuation of rigs. Nevertheless, it remains clear that no one really knows what the future holds for this still-unfolding disaster narrative.

San Francisco, CA.  –

Yesterday, the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command website issued this long awaited release, stating, “Federal On-Scene Coordinator Rear Admiral Mary Landry, acting on the validation of government scientists and in consultation with the National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, have given approval to proceed with the top kill operation.” With that announcement, the initiation of the procedure known as “Top Kill” began at 1pm, Central Time.

Photo by Petty Officer 3rd class Patrick Kelley

Thus began the injection of heavy drilling fluids into the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. The Top Kill procedure replaces an earlier temporary solution, entitled the RIT (Riser Insertion Tube). The temporary solution, installed over a week ago, managed but did not solve the oil flow problem.  Rear Admiral Mary Landry, Janet Napolitano (Homeland Security), and Kenneth Salazar (Interior Department) agreed, in fact, that the RIT was only a temporary solution.

Six hours after the Top Kill procedure began, BP CEO Doug Suttles together with the Rear Admiral Mary Landry held a press conference about this disaster, which has now cost at least $800 million in combined expense for BP and the federal government. The press conference began at 7 pm CT. Most of the press queries centered upon clarifying the systems, how they work, and plans in case of a Top Kill failure.

During its use, the RIT solution directed some 20,000 barrels total into a mile long tube to a nearby BP tanker. Today BP’s Suttles confirmed that the total volume of oil pulled from the floor by means of the RIT was 22,000 barrels.

Describing the multi-chemical Top Kill fluid as “non-toxic”, BP’s Suttles provided data about the functioning and method of the Top Kill procedure, which has been pumping about 65 barrels per minute since it began yesterday afternoon. According to Suttles, the pumping is taking place from two different vessels and from two different lines, the “choke line” and the “kill line.”

When asked what the greatest technological challenge has been to date, Suttles pointed to the difficulty in gaining scientific diagnostics. The hardest part, he argued, has been trying to accurately assess something that is almost un-observable. Visible monitoring via underwater devices, he thus suggested, is not a preferred method of gathering information.

Louisiana is the only state thus far to suffer the arrival of oil onto its beaches,  but the clean-up project continues to loom over the southeastern shoreline. “We will not be rushed, “ Suttles stated, “it is too early to know if [Top Kill] will be successful.”

Allison Addicott writes about globalization, politics, culture ,and religion. You can learn more about her in “Bio”. She also writes “The Flip Side” at The Washington Times Communities, edits its “Public Good” section, and works as Social Media Coordinator for The Times Communities.

San Francisco, CA.

Late this afternoon, in a roundtable call with reporters and bloggers, Rear Admiral Mary Landry (USCG), the Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon joint federal response effort, took questions for nearly an hour. Taking a serious tone, she pointed repeatedly to the complex spectrum of agencies focused on this emergency, as well as the need to care for local citizens, communities, and environments affected by the unprecedented spill.  When asked, she acknowledged, as both Janet Napolitano (Homeland Security) and Kenneth Salazar (Interior Department) indicated on Sunday, that the use of a “Riser Insertion Tube,” a short pipe fitting with rubber holdings attached to a mile long pipe drawing oil into a nearby BP tanker, is not an acceptable long term solution.

The powers at work include, here, the federal government’s broad response – using over 20,000 people, BP’s corporate “team”, the oversight roles played by Janet Napolitano and Kenneth Salazar, and the independent scientists attempting to obtain data and offer analysis. Landry affirmed her role as a public servant – separate from corporate concerns – with a devotion to bringing information as transparently as possible to all parties.

The status of the nascent oil containment project continues to be shaky, but some signs indicate at least a temporary foothold.  With the Riser Insertion Tube currently in place, at least 1,000 barrels (of the loosely estimated 5,000 barrels at the rise) makes its way through the mile-long attached pipe to a nearby tanker each day. There, Landry said, the oil is “decanted” in an attempt to separate ocean water from the oil and thus to get the most out of the storage space available on the tanker.

Gas burning - photo by Petty Officer 3rd class Patrick Kelley

The Deepwater Horizon project released BP’s graphic image of what might be a longer-term “Top Kill” device. As the clean-up project grows many grave issues remain to be resolved. These include the reported “plumes” of petroleum being held far below the surface and then stretched by currents, apparently moving southward.  The Coast Guard reported one such plume as more than 10 miles long. Thr twin problems of surface and subsurface dispersal of oil were addressed yesterday by independent scientists who stated that they were still hard at work trying to determine the toxicity and chemical makeup of the deep and unprecendented plumes.

Rear Admiral Landry attempted to avoid a critique of any one group, but sought to affirm that while the concerns about the “accuracy” of the current rate of flow from the rise is vital, that the importance of getting at least something in place to slow down the flow is a small step on what will be a long path. Landry reminded the group that while the estimated 5,000 barrels gallons a day is a great deal, that the unfolding scenario could have become even more uncontrollable than it now is.

Other concerns came to fore which the Admiral addressed:

1.)    Maintaining global readiness to handle other potential oil spills – the issue of the inventory of “rubber” boom barriers at the global level;

2.)    Preparedness for the near future and coming hurricane season on the Gulf Coast.

3.)    Landry briefly outlined a kind of “trust fund” banking model that would hold BP financially responsible for this spill – and which would hold other spillers in the future equally responsible for this kind of disaster.

“Be moderate. Don’t enter the twitterstream like the SWAT team.”

Intro

Today I stop for a moment to comment on the current discourse around the use of social media. I realize that navel-gazing about social media theory is probably more off-putting to some individuals than simply analyzing the benefits of social media use itself.  This post has three sections, the last portion asks for input from you, the reader. If you so choose, you can skip over Parts I and II. Part III poses questions that seek feedback from all of you so that I can write about your observations in a forthcoming post.

I have been working as the Social Media Coordinator for an online journalism project for a few months now.  About 65 writers, we are a part of a major national newspaper in the DC area, yet have a national and global audience. I am indebted to the wisdom of my colleagues who have shared expertise with me in the realm of Social Media. Any critiques I make are not intended to speak to the lessons shared with me, but rather other posts gleaned from my own reading and research.

Some Thoughts/Observations thus far

First off, I believe as some writers and others involved in using social media that Social Media (caps indicating formal applications like FB and Twitter) is and always will be merely a tool. It enables relationships for personal and business interactions. Think about mingling amidst the vendors at a conference or your local farmers’ market – personal information is shared just as part of a business transaction. Quintessentially human behaviors are at work here. Social Media as tools do not pull us away from or toward a destiny – they simply exist. They will become what we allow them to become. Still, we must not be naïve to think that “social” can extricate itself entirely from the “capitalist” need to “monetize.” For example, FB is free. I like that. I will have to weigh the benefit/risk for myself about using FB to stay in touch with friends and colleagues if I find myself annoyed at recent management decisions made at that company. Further commenting about privacy issues is definitely fodder for another article entirely.

Users seem to be rattled in a different way by Twitter.  To those “tech” people who seek to list out “should/should nots” I suggest you heed such advice only if it makes sense and aligns with how you or your business works in tandem with the tools Twitter offers. In some of my work, for example, tweeting for the journalistic organization, my use of the twitterstream is entirely different than if I was simply selling a product. In some ways, Twitter itself redefines journalism…it is both the source of content (like an AP wire) as well as a tool of information “delivery” to an audience. People out there crafting “does and don’ts” rarely peer through the lens of journalism and how “we” need to integrate social media now and in the future.

Spam a lot - not

Further, those who would paint themselves as Twitter authorities say, “Don’t spam!” On many levels, “to Spam” is simply “to advertise.” We all know what truly atrocious spamming “looks like”. I think they are attempting to say, “Be moderate. Don’t enter the twitterstream like the SWAT team.” I have read other accounts of people wringing his or her hands before writing a tweet, as though the apocalypse might surge from a poorly-crafted tweet. It is a Tweet…only 140 characters folks…bring the better part of your thinking cap and all will be well in the world.

The role of  Social Media – Seeking your opinions

I just would like to hear from you all. Trying to disengage from the information flow around us is difficult. At the same time, now, more than ever, we can choose which events we observe and how we observe them  “first hand” or  “live”.  Please think about your answers in three distinct ways,  as a private person, as a consumer, then as a citizen/voter. What I hope to learn from readers is:

1. How do you perceive your ability to witness events “first hand” has changed?

For example, I now have direct access to images and videos created by the team that is attempting to address the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We can see how it is working and how it is not working via Social Media. We can even track conflicting information. What do you think?

2. How might this compare to other similar events, such as the emergency response to Katrina? Or, even earlier, Exxon Valdez? It seems to me that even since Hurricane Katrina we have moved far forward in our ability to keep watch on such clean-up projects.

Even though YouTube and other newsources have made easier access to images in recent years, Social Media have created portals and streams of information. Yes, this is business…but it does possess that compelling potential to tell stories and help people share important information. What do you think?

Please  leave comments here as comments. Or, you can send them to my email at allison.addicott@cal.berkeley.edu.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.