naturalfeature:gulf of mexico

Etats-Unis Mexique : On the Border - The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/on-the-border/100510

Signalé par Elisabeth Vallet, professeur à l’Université du Québec à Montréal, que je remercie grandement. Des images tout à fait exceptionnelles de frontières et de murs.

On the Border

May 6, 2013 |

The border between the United States and Mexico stretches 3,169 kilometers (1,969 miles), crossing deserts, rivers, towns, and cities from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. Every year, an estimated 350 million people legally cross the border, with another 500,000 entering into the United States illegally. No single barrier stretches across the entire border, instead, it is lined with a patchwork of steel and concrete fences, infrared cameras, sensors, drones, and nearly 20,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents. As immigrants from Mexico and other Central and South American countries continue to try to find their way into the U.S., Congress is now considering an immigration reform bill called the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The bill proposes solutions to current border enforcement problems and paths to citizenship for the estimated 11 million existing illegal immigrants in the U.S. Gathered here are images of the US-Mexico border from the past few years.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/border050613/s_b01_85427302.jpg

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/border050613/s_b20_97788455.jpg

#frontières #murs #etats-unis #mexique

BP civil trial opens - World Socialist Web Site

A propos de l’ouverture du procès BP.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/27/bptr-f27.html

BP civil trial opens
By Bryan Dyne
27 February 2013

Nearly three years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, which killed 11 workers and leaked more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the federal civil trial of oil giant BP began Monday. The total amount that will be paid out under the Clean Water Act could amount to $17.6 billion.

This trial comes after BP settled last November for $4.5 billion toward all criminal charges relating to the 2010 spill, where it plead guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter, one count of obstruction of Congress and two other misdemeanors. Settlement discussions for the civil charges are ongoing.

Carnival cruise ship passengers tell of ’horrible’ conditions after disembarking | World news | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/15/carnival-triumph-docks-alabama-ordeal

Encore un paquebot à la dérive, mais cette fois-ci plein de passagers et… d’autres choses…

Après un incendie en salle des machines, le bateau est resté 5 jours à la dérive, sans aucune source d’énergie dans le golfe du Mexique. Pas de ventilation, pas de sanitaires, 4200 personnes à bord (dont 1000 membres d’équipage) : un cocktail d’enfer !

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/15/1360921077367/Carnival-Triumph-is-towed-010.jpg
Carnival Triumph is towed towards the docks in Mobile, Alabama, Photograph : Sipa USA/Rex Features

As the ship was towed into port on Thursday, passengers transmitted details of the grisly conditions on board. Joy Dyer, in texts shared with the Guardian, said “floating waste is all over the place” and described the smell as “rank”. Passengers were forced to conduct bodily functions using showers, sinks and red bags, Dyer said. She was among a number of passengers who had taken to sleeping above deck to escape the stench of the rooms below – where “slick floors are usually human waste overflows”.

Les croisiéristes ne sont que modérément inquiets.

Stinking ship saga unlikely to pull cruise industry far off course | http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/16/mexico-carnival-industry-idUSL1N0BFD1Z20130216

“I don’t lose sleep over this,” said David Crooks, a Boston-based executive with World Travel Holdings, which owns huge travel cruise agencies including CruisesOnly, Cruise Inc and CheapCruises.com.

When asked about the possible impact on consumer demand after the problems of the Triumph drew media scrutiny, he said: “If the price is right, people will travel.”

Ce témoin est parfait : son discours, son nom, le nom de ses sociétés ;-)

Enfin, la maison mère de tout ça ne se fait pas non plus trop de souci.

Carnival, which operates 100 ships worldwide in a stable of brands that includes flagship Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America Lines, Britain’s Cunard Line and Italy’s Costa Cruises, declined to comment on the possible impact on bookings due to all the unsavory publicity it received over the Triumph.

De plus, d’après les conseillers juridiques, Carnival ne devrait pas craindre grand chose :

Insurance could cover everything from the cost of the sewage clean-up to compensation packages offered to passengers, Kornfeld said

(…)

“You know, shit happens. It’s not worth the trouble. Most people are going to say ’I had a really crappy vacation and I’m really upset, but I’m not hiring a lawyer to sue Carnival.’ The individual claims will be too small,” he said.

On appréciera les mots particulièrement choisis de Linda Kornfeld, juriste spécialisée dans la chasse aux indemnisations au profit des (sociétés) titulaires de contrats d’assurance.

#BP plea in Gulf spill case OKd by judge - SFGate
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/BP-plea-in-Gulf-spill-case-OKd-by-judge-4234275.php

BP plaide coupable de meurtre et paie une petite amende… les personnalités juridiques on les envoie pas à la chaise électrique ?

BP added manslaughter to its felony record Tuesday, but removed a heavy weight from the shoulders of the company and its investors as a judge accepted a plea agreement in the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The $4 billion fine - about equivalent to the revenue BP took in every four days last year - was salt in an open wound for victims who spoke during an emotional hearing in New Orleans at which a BP lawyer entered guilty pleas on the company’s behalf to 14 charges, including manslaughter and obstruction of Congress.

In addition to the fine, which BP will be able to pay over five years, the oil giant will be on probation for five years and will be subject to independent monitoring.

“I think BP is the real winner today,” said Chris Jones, whose brother, Gordon Jones, was killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

#pétrole #pollution

Catastrophe écologique en Louisiane à cause de la fracturation - Extraction - Basta !
►http://www.bastamag.net/article2837.html

Elle n’a fait l’objet que de quelques manchettes et c’est pourtant une catastrophe écologique sans précédent qui s’est déroulée le 3 août dernier en Louisiane (Etats-Unis). En l’espace d’une nuit, plus de trois hectares de forêts marécageuses ont été engloutis, laissant place à un gouffre géant rempli d’eau, de saumure, de pétrole et de gaz naturel. D’après le site Truth-Out, les premiers signes du désastre sont apparus au printemps 2012 avec l’apparition de bulles dans les bayous, ces étendues d’eau formées par les anciens bras du Mississippi. Puis les résidents du comté d’Assumption Parish ont commencé à ressentir de petits tremblements de terres. Avant que la terre ne finisse soudainement par céder.

l’article de Truth-Out

Bayou Frack-Out : The Massive Oil and Gas Disaster You’ve Never Heard Of
http://truth-out.org/news/item/13136-bayou-frack-out-the-massive-oil-and-gas-disaster-youve-never-heard-

Documents obtained by the Baton Rouge newspaper, The Advocate, revealed that in 2011, Texas Brine sent a letter to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to alert its director, Joseph Ball, that the cavern had failed a “mechanical integrity test” and would be capped and shut down. The DNR received the letter but did not require any additional monitoring of the well’s integrity.

Despite this letter, regulators apparently did not suspect the brine cavern to be the source of the bubbles until a few days before the sinkhole appeared, The Advocate reported. The letter raised ire among local officials, who did not hear about the failed integrity test until after Bayou Corne became a slurry pit.

#fracturation_hydraulique #hydrocarbure #pollution

US downplayed effect of Deepwater oil spill on whales, emails reveal | Environment | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/24/whale-death-deepwater-oil-spill

Documents obtained by Greenpeace show officials controlling information about wildlife affected by the disaster

#environnement #information #bp #pétrole attention aux photos de #baleines mortes…

The New ’Golden Age of Oil’ that Wasn’t

http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/the-environment/environmental-degradation/51994-the-new-golden-age-of-oil-that-wasnt.html?itemid=id#1444

By Michael Klare
Al Jazeera
October 11, 2012

Following the Arab Spring and the US presidential campaign, the topic of US energy independence has sparked back to life. The article summarizes the most high profile environmental disasters brought about by oil giants, who were given the green light to find alternative oil sources, no matter the cost. On this risky path to achieve ambitious energy targets, extreme alternatives such as arctic drilling, hydro-fracking and tar sands production are all on the table. As Professor Michael Klare puts it, one thing remains certain: “extreme energy= extreme methods= extreme disasters= extreme opposition.”

Last winter, fossil-fuel enthusiasts began trumpeting the dawn of a new “golden age of oil” that would kick-start the American economy, generate millions of new jobs, and free this country from its dependence on imported petroleum. Ed Morse, head commodities analyst at Citibank, was typical. In the Wall Street Journal he crowed, “The United States has become the fastest-growing oil and gas producer in the world, and is likely to remain so for the rest of this decade and into the 2020s.”

#états-unis #énergie #pétrole #géopolitique #géostratégie

Once this surge in US energy production was linked to a predicted boom in energy from Canada’s tar sands reserves, the results seemed obvious and uncontestable. “North America,” he announced, “is becoming the new Middle East.” Many other analysts have elaborated similarly on this rosy scenario, which now provides the foundation for Mitt Romney’s plan to achieve “energy independence” by 2020.

Unexploded bombs lurk off US coast - CSMonitor.com
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0929/Unexploded-bombs-lurk-off-US-coast

Disposed World War II explosives and munitions in the Gulf of Mexico pose a threat to offshore oil drilling, according to Texas oceanographers.

#guerre #bombes #pétrole

Russie Toponymie

Think Tank Wants Arctic Ocean to Become ’Russian Ocean’ | News | The Moscow Times

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/mobile/news/article/think-tank-wants-arctic-ocean-to-become-russian-ocean/462580.html

25 July 2012
By Jonathan Earle

From the Indian Ocean to the Sea of Japan to the Gulf of Mexico, bodies of water are often named after a country that borders them. But not the Arctic Ocean — or at least not yet.

The director of a conservative think tank wants to change that, saying it is “logical” and “just” to tack on “Russian” to the ocean’s name given Russia’s extensive Arctic territories, scientific contribution to the region and influence over its future.

“It’s traditional to name seas and oceans after the countries that have the most influence over them,” Nikolai Pavlyuk, head of the Institute for Expert Analysis, wrote in an article published Monday on the think tank’s website.

Etats-Unis Energie Arctique Alaska - Une longue et passionnante enquête sur les futurs ravages de l’exploitation pétrolière en Alaska

Shell Arctic Ocean Drilling Stands to Open New Oil Frontier - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/science/earth/shell-arctic-ocean-drilling-stands-to-open-new-oil-frontier.html?nl=todaysh

The Energy Rush: New and Frozen Frontier Awaits Offshore Oil Drilling

Edward Itta, the former mayor of North Slope Borough and an Inupiat Eskimo, campaigned as a whaler opposed to offshore drilling.

By JOHN M. BRODER and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: May 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — Shortly before Thanksgiving in 2010, the leaders of the commission President Obama had appointed to investigate the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sat down in the Oval Office to brief him.
The Energy Rush

Shell Oil employees took questions from village elders in Savoonga, Alaska, in April 2011. Shell will begin drilling test wells off the coast of northern Alaska this July.

After listening to their findings about the BP accident and the safety of deepwater drilling, the president abruptly changed the subject.

“Where are you coming out on the offshore Arctic?” he asked.

William K. Reilly, a former chief of the Environmental Protection Agency and a commission co-chairman, was startled, as was Carol M. Browner, the president’s top adviser at the time on energy and climate change. Although a proposal by Shell to drill in the Arctic had been a source of dissension, it was not a major focus of the panel’s work.

How Rural America Got Fracked | Ellen Cantarow (The Nation)
►http://www.thenation.com/article/167980/how-rural-america-got-fracked

March in Wisconsin used to mean snow on the ground, temperatures so cold that farmers worried about their cows freezing to death. But as I traveled around rural townships and villages in early March to interview people about frac-sand mining, a little-known cousin of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” daytime temperatures soared to nearly eighty degrees—bizarre weather that seemed to be sending a meteorological message. In this troubling spring, Wisconsin’s prairies and farmland fanned out to undulating hills that cradled the land and its people. Within their embrace, the rackety calls of geese echoed from ice-free ponds, bald eagles wheeled in the sky and deer leaped in the brush. And for the first time in my life, I heard the thrilling warble of sandhill cranes. (...) Source: The Nation

This is a “must read” article

How Rural America Got Fracked - The Nation
Ellen Cantarow
May 21, 2012

This is a “must read” article

►http://www.thenation.com/article/167980/how-rural-america-got-fracked

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.

If the world can be seen in a grain of sand, watch out. As Wisconsinites are learning, there’s money (and misery) in sand—and if you’ve got the right kind, an oil company may soon be at your doorstep.

March in Wisconsin used to mean snow on the ground, temperatures so cold that farmers worried about their cows freezing to death. But as I traveled around rural townships and villages in early March to interview people about frac-sand mining, a little-known cousin of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” daytime temperatures soared to nearly eighty degrees—bizarre weather that seemed to be sending a meteorological message.

In this troubling spring, Wisconsin’s prairies and farmland fanned out to undulating hills that cradled the land and its people. Within their embrace, the rackety calls of geese echoed from ice-free ponds, bald eagles wheeled in the sky and deer leaped in the brush. And for the first time in my life, I heard the thrilling warble of sandhill cranes.

Yet this peaceful rural landscape is swiftly becoming part of a vast assembly line in the corporate race for the last fossil fuels on the planet. The target: the sand in the land of the cranes.

Un pirate, qu’est que c’est ?

Le pirate et la piraterie désignent une forme de banditisme pratiquée sur mer. Cependant, les pirates ne se limitent pas seulement aux pillages de bateau, et attaquent parfois de petites villes côtières.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). The term has been used to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy

Bei Piraterie (von griechisch πειρᾶν peiran, „versuchen, unternehmen, auskundschaften“, und πεĩρα peira, „Wagnis, Unternehmen, Überfall“ über πειρατής, peirātḗs und lateinisch pirata, „Seeräuber“) oder Seeräuberei handelt es sich um Gewalttaten, Eigentumsdelikte oder Freiheitsberaubungen, die zu eigennützigen Zwecken unter Gebrauch eines See- oder Luftfahrzeugs auf hoher See oder in anderen Gebieten verübt werden, die keiner staatlichen Gewalt unterliegen. Bis zu einer völkerrechtlichen Vertragsregelung 1958 wurden unter Piraterie meist dieselben Taten verstanden, soweit sie überhaupt auf See oder auch von See aus begangen wurden. Staatliche Maßnahmen stellen, selbst wenn sie unrechtmäßig sind, keine Piraterie dar. Heute sind solche Maßnahmen Kriegs- und Behördenschiffen vorbehalten, im Rahmen der Kaperei wurden sie bis 1856 jedoch auch von staatlich autorisierten Privaten (Freibeuter, Kaperfahrer) vorgenommen und waren dadurch in ihrer äußeren Erscheinungsform häufig nicht von Piraterie zu unterscheiden. Keine Piraterie im eigentlichen Sinn sind auch Strand-, Fluss- und Luftpiraterie.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piraterie

On se rend compte à quel point les définitions ne font pas l’unanimité quand on suit la discussion autour des positions politiques des pirates :

►http://seenthis.net/messages/69508
http://seenthis.net/messages/69508#message69511

2 Years Later, Grim Photos From the BP Disaster | Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/05/greenpeace-bp-photos

(via @opironet avec des tas de photos de tortues pleines de goudron…)

It’s been two years since the Deepwater Horizon disaster unleashed 4.9 million barrels of oil on the Gulf of Mexico. In the midst of the disaster, BP and its contractors did everything they could to keep people from seeing the scale of the disaster. But new photos released Monday offer some new insight to just how grim the Gulf became for sea life.

#bp #golfe #pétrole #environnement

Two years since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/apr2012/pers-a21.shtml

Two years since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster
21 April 2012

Two years ago yesterday, an explosion at the BP-run Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and unleashed an oil spill that resulted in the worst environmental catastrophe in US history.

Before it was finally capped nearly three months later, the erupting well released 4.9 million barrels of oil, making it the largest accidental oil spill ever. It caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to the local economy, from Texas to Florida. Its impact on human health and the gulf ecosystem will last for decades, with consequences that are not fully known.

Hé les gens, y’a Gnafron qui se lance dans la diplomatie internationale !
http://www.europe1.fr/Politique/Ils-meritent-des-coups-de-pied-au-cul-935453

Interrogé sur l’absence de vote d’une résolution sur la Syrie au Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU, Gérard Longuet a estimé lundi que « c’est une honte pour les pays qui refusent d’assumer les responsabilités ». « Franchement, il y a des cultures politiques qui méritent des coups de pied au cul », a poursuivi le ministre de la Défense et des Anciens combattants sur Europe 1.

Alors je ne sais pas comment on fait pour mettre des coups de pied au cul d’une « culture politique », mais ce qui est certain, c’est qu’entre le blowjobs de Botul et les coups de pied au cul de Gnafron, il y a des civilisations qui volent à des niveaux d’abstraction intellectuelle qui font (un petit peu) peur.

Scientists asked to downplay Deepwater Horizon spill - latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-scientists-asked-downplay-deepwater-horizon-spill-20120125,0,20613

#science #pétrole #bp #marée noire

SKYTRUTH: using remote sensing and digital mapping to educate the public and policymakers about the environmental consequences of human activities
http://www.skytruth.org

On Wednesday, December 21, #SkyTruth obtained a radar #satellite #image showing a major oil spill in the waters off the coast of #Nigeria. The image, taken at approximately 9:30am local time on December 21, 2011 by the ASAR instrument aboard the Envisat satellite operated by the European Space Agency, reveals a slick covering 923 square kilometers (356 square miles). The image may be viewed and downloaded from the SkyTruth blog.

Image #republication is #permitted with the following credit statement:

“Envisat ASAR image analyzed by SkyTruth (http://www.skytruth.org) - data courtesy European Space Agency”

Déjà cité (http://seenthis.net/spip.php?page=recherche&recherche=skytruth), à présent lié...

Giant shrimp raises big concern as it invades the Gulf - Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Giant-shrimp-raises-big-concern-as-it-invades-the-2424242.php

The Asian tiger prawn, a foot-long crustacean with a voracious appetite and a proclivity for disease, has invaded the northern Gulf [of Mexico], threatening prized native species, from crabs and oysters to smaller brown and white shrimp.

http://www.chron.com/mediaManager/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=1968050&width=628&height=471#.jpg

#it_has_begun

Court Rules US Taxpayers, Not BP Or Transocean, Are Liable For Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up Costs
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/06/18/unbelievable-courts-rule-taxpayers-bp-transocean-liable-gulf-

US District court has dismissed over 100,000 lawsuits brought against BP And Transocean to pay for oil spill clean up costs and environmental damages caused to the Gulf of Mexico from the BP Gulf Oil Spill. The court ruled that injury stopped the moment the well was sealed and the Federal Government, aka The US Taxpayer, is now liable for clean up costs along with any damages caused by deficiencies of the cleanup of the Gulf Of Mexico.

The colourful snaps that show the ugly side of America’s #pollution | Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053645/A-silk-purse-sows-ear-The-colourful-snaps-ugly-Americas-pollution.html

At first glance they’re beautiful, but these incredible snaps reveal something far more ugly.
J Henry Fair’s spectacular aerial images show the devastation man has wreaked on America.

#photographie #environnement
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/26/article-2053645-0E89B83A00000578-380_964x636.jpg

Well Partner to Settle With BP for $4 Billion - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/business/bp-recovers-4-billion-from-anadarko-for-gulf-spill.html

#BP continues to quarrel with its contractors, Transocean, which operated the rig, and Halliburton, which was responsible for cement work, about participating in the compensation payments. BP said Monday that the Anadarko settlement should set an example for the two contractors.

#pétrole #pollution

BP to risk worst ever oil spill in Shetlands drilling - Green Living, Environment - The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/exclusive-bp-to-risk-worst-ever-oil-spill-in-shetlands-drilling-23692

BP is making contingency plans to fight the largest oil spill in history, as it prepares to drill more than 4,000 feet down in the Atlantic in wildlife-rich British waters off the Shetland Islands.

Internal company documents seen by The Independent show that the worst-case scenario for a spill from its North Uist exploratory well, to be sunk next year, would involve a leak of 75,000 barrels a day for 140 days – a total of 10.5 million barrels of oil, comfortably the world’s biggest pollution disaster.

#pétrole #environnement

Final Deepwater disaster report paints bleak picture
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/09/final_deepwater_disaster_repor_1.html

The panel concludes that BP, Transocean and Halliburton all violated a number of federal regulations. (The full list is below the fold.)

http://blogs.nature.com/news/deeepwater%20final.jpg
#petrole

The Big Uneasy (Living on Earth)
►http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00034&segmentID=2

Six years ago Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf of Mexico. The National Weather Service said that Katrina was the deadliest and costliest Hurricane in the U.S. But a new documentary, “The Big Uneasy,” argues that much of the damage could have been prevented with better planning and engineering. Bruce Gellerman speaks with actor Harry Shearer who wrote and directed the film, about major flaws in the New Orleans levee system that led to the flooding of the city.