BP kill zones: 500 square miles of fiery death

By Monica Davis

Animal rights activists are enraged at an ongoing animal kill zone operated by BP and its contractors.  Many say there’s already a human kill zone in place: the human zone will just kill over time with a deluge of cancer, lung disease, PTSD, suicide and depression.

Even more frightening is the militarization of the oil blowout.  From unknown oil henchmen frightening people on Grand Isle, to “forces” running off journalists and containing reporters.  Now, we have two dangerous components to deal with: the increased used of unknown military type contractors and the militarization of the spill catastrophe.

Billy Nungesser, indefatigable President of the Plaquemines Parish, implores anyone who will listen: “We will fight this war….We will persevere to win this war.”

For Ragin Cajun, Democratic strategist, James Carville: “This is literally a war… this is an invasion…We need to hear someone say ‘We’ll fight them on the beaches….”

Retired Gen. Russell Honore, who oversaw the Katrina debacle, insists: “We need to act like this is World War 3. Treat this like it’s an invasion…equal to what we decided about terrorists. We’ve got to find the oil and kill it.” (Counterpunch.org)

In a new version of “Kill them all and let God sort it out,” BP has created dozens of  ”Kill Zones,” where they encircle an area with booms and set it afire.  Anything within that zone: birds, turtles and other wildlife are incinerated. What is outraging many is the fact that turtles, many endangered species, are being burned alive in these “kill zones.”  Some of those so-called kill zones are as large as five hundred square miles. This brings a new cruel level to the idea of a “ring of fire.” 

On June 17, the Los Angeles Times reported in “Death by fire in the gulf” that an effort to burn oil from the surface of the Gulf is also torching all kinds of sea life. Catherine Craig of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project posted the following interview with a shrimp boat captain who attempted to rescue sea turtles from the these “burn boxes.” BP sent him away. 

This situation is being reported worldwide, including the following article by the UK Guardian:

Endangered sea turtles and other marine creatures are being corralled into 500 square-mile “burn fields” and burnt alive in operations intended to contain oil from BP‘s ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration confirmed today.

The killing of the turtles – which once teetered on the brink of extinction – has outraged environmentalists and could put BP into even deeper legal jeopardy.

Environmental organisations are demanding that the oil company stop blocking rescue of the turtles, and are pressing the US administration to halt the burning and look at prosecuting BP and its contractors for killing endangered species during the cleanup operation. Harming or killing a sea turtle carries fines of up to $50,000 (£33,000). (www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/25/bp-accused-of-killing-turtles)

The poisoning of the seas by oil contamination, together with the incineration of live turtles, is creating a deadly, even species threatening environment for sea turtles.

“This is the worst calamity that I have ever seen for sea turtles,” said David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy. “This is really the cradle of sea turtle reproduction for the western hemisphere. “The threat to the turtles could continue well after the gusher is capped. The oil spill is turning vast expanses of the Gulf into a dead zone, killing off the jellyfish, crabs and conches that are the staples of an adult diet. (Guardian)

However, given weather and air patterns, what is going to happen when hurricane winds drill through these and whip them up with winds as high as 200 MPH?

We can already see the thin sheen of oil that coats the ocean as far as the eye can see. Now imagine that, instead of a sheen of oil and dispersants, there was a wall of fire, an inferno reaching pockets of 500 square mile kill zones, linking them together in a chain of flaming death?  How far would the thing travel?  And how much wildlife, oxygen producing algae, krill and other atmosphere generators will die?

News outlets continue to concentrate on animals: turtles, dolphins, sea lions and whales, not to mention edible fish species.  What we are avoiding is the fact that what kills animals, kills humans.  How much of a  leap would it be for some of these unnamed environmental killers and terrorists to turn their attention on “contaminated humans” and save the company from paying out damages to cancer ridden human victims of oil poisoning?

We see the lack of respect for human life in the pictures of human clean up crews handling oil contaminated trash with their bare hands, in street clothes. 

Commercial fisherman George Jackson was overcome by fumes while inspecting boom; BP gave him no protective gear. “They didn’t supply us with nothing,” says Jackson. “Now they’re starting to disperse gloves and hazmat suits.” Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf Chemicals and vapors, both from oil and dispersants, can pose serious health risks. They can inflame the nose, throat and lungs, and aggravate asthma. When absorbed in the bloodstream, oil compounds like benzene or toluene can cause headaches and dizziness and could have long term toxic effects on the brain, liver and kidneys after prolonged, direct contact. (CBS News)

And then you have people who think this is a wonderful jobs program for youth.  Just send unemployed kids down to the Gulf Coast for a little work experience and resume padding.

For most new high school and college grads finding a job is harder than ever. Meanwhile, states are cutting summer jobs for disadvantaged young people. What to do with this army of young unemployed? Send them to the Gulf to clean up beaches and wetlands, and send the bill to BP. (www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/06/06/cleanup_jobs_open2010)

Well, I suppose the planet is overpopulated and killing off a few hundred thousand kids, making them sterile, damaging their genes, exposing them to known carcinogens and toxic chemicals would go a long way to “thin the herd.”  But it is not something a sane person with any knowledge of what this clean up entails would recommend, given the toxicity of this catastrophe.

Many had no clue of the extent of this catastrophe, how much oil was gushing out of the blown out well, or how extensively it would contaminate beachers, wetlands, wildlife, ocean and atmosphere.

…hundreds of thousands of workers will be needed to clean beaches, siphon off oil from wetlands, and rescue stranded wildlife. Tens of thousands more will have to bring in new landfill, replace tarred sea walls, and rebuild shoreline infrastructure. (Salon)

How does one “siphon off” the remnants of millions of gallons of oil, with an equal amount of dispersants.  How does one siphon off oil contamination when the gusher is still spewing out crude oil and unimaginable pressures? How do you keep from killing people over the long term when you have contaminated the air, water, soil and ocean?  

You don’t.  You create 10 mile by 50 mile zones where you set the ocean of oil afire and burn everything in it.  This is the environmental version of the London Blitz.  Welcome to the Oil War, the Infowar, the misinfo/disinfo media engine.

Meanwhile, the protesters are doing their “thang.”  Saturday, even the Governor of Florida joined a human chain of protesters on his states formerly pristine beaches. “Hundreds of people including Florida’s governor joined hands on an oil-stained strip of beach in the Florida Panhandle as part of an international demonstration against offshore drilling Saturday.” (AP)

What do you call a 500 mile kill zone of fire, but hell?