DragonsFaeriesElves&theUnseen : Exxon Valdez oil spill 25years ago hasn't ended- its about to start again with Shell.

Friday, June 12, 2015

After 25 years, Exxon Valdez oil spill hasn't ended ~ It's about to start Again!

After 25 Years Exxon Valdez oil Spill hasn't Ended! Its About to Start Again With SELL~

This is a Drawing of a otter I did in
College about the Exxon Valdez oil Spill

For today's post I thought I would talk about the Shell Oil Rig that has ported here in Seattle's popular downtown docks. Its almost as tall as the space needle which is 600 feet high and the Shell Rig is 400 feet high. There are many reasons why I wanted to do this post, mostly is because I remember the horror of the Exxon Valdez when it happen 25 years ago. I was in college getting my art BA degree. At the time I had to do a drawing of an environmental view & how it would effect what is going on at the present time. Well being a Humboldt State University we were very aware of the happenings of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Men & Women trying to clean the
crude oil of the Exxon

We had to draw a life size of one of the many endangered otters that were killed in the horrors of the deep oil that slammed into the Bligh reef, that spilled more than ll-million gallons of crude oil into the very cold, clear waters of the Alaska's Prince William sound which was one of the last best places on our earth! There is a reason I am starting with the Exxon Valdez Oil spill in the Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska,

The Exxon Valdez 25 years ago

Why? because the new Royal Dutch Shell drilling company has plans to drill six explorations wells, using the Noble Discoverer and the Polar Pioneer Rigs at its currently approved sites in the offshore Burger Prospect. What this means? These wells would be drilling in shallow waters of the Chukehi Sea Outer Continental Shelf about 70 miles northwest of the village of Wainwright. Also the Interior Department is also considering a request from Shell to extend its time in the Arctic.

An Otter before the Crude oil

This is just the beginning ~Likely to be the END~of the sad changes of Climate Changes that will truly effect our planet and our Planet. Also our children's future & so many folks that live around the world on low islands with the rising seas. Being a mother,wife, & aunt I feel that I have to write about this. So what happened with the Exxon Valdez oil spill which damaged more than 1,300 Miles of some of the most remote, wildlife shoreline in this county.

save us!

So instead of celebrating the 25 anniversary of no more oil drilling because of that huge historical event environmental disaster. the CEO Ben Van Beurdent of the Royal Dutch Shell decides to drill in just in a different area of Alaska-the Chukchi Sea. He quotes by saying,'' We have taken a thoughtful approach to carefully considering potential exploration in the Chukchi Sea, recognizing the significant environmental, social and ecological resources in the region

Area's in which they plan to drill

and establishing high standards for the protection of the critical ecosystem of our Arctic communities & the subsistence needs and cultural traditions of the Alaskan Natives." So if you believe all that! Well were in for an even more enormous globe disaster & this time we just might not be able to recover!!!

Native Chukchi Alaskan

What I did find about the sound [the Paradise Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska] was the area's ecosystem was permanently damaged. Thousands of thousands of gallons of the Exxon Valdez oil still pollutes the beaches & still is very toxic hurting the ecosystem near the shoreline. It has been researched by wildlife monitors & as of 2010 the

Folks doing their best to
clean up the crude oil

Government of Alaska, considers that only 13 of the 32 monitored wildlife population were still living in the Paradise 'Prince William Sound out of the Gulf of Alaska since the disaster. The habitats that lived in the area's to fully recover is very likely will never happen. This includes the resources and services that were there at the time to help the injured during the spill. Some of the wildlife are still listed today~2015~ as Not Recovering! This includes the pod Orca which has lost 15 of its 22 members after the enormous oil spill. They have not produced a calf in 25 years or since that faithful day. This is one of the reasons why that I discover in my research in this post.

The huge oil spill Exxon

It seems that there is only one older female left of the pod orca because of the Exxon Oil spill. Scientists appear certain that this unique pod of Orca will go extinct because of this. Its just a matter of time. Sadly even the government who has looked at their research have made the same conclusion too. It appears that the Exxon oil spill has claimed these beautiful mammals the Pod Orcas. However, there are still many animals around we have to take care of our wildlife that have survived. This is why one more large oil spill in my opinion will just wipe very creature out! and the environment too!

Walrus on thin Ice

Another species were the eight inch long herring that once swam in schools over a million or more! It was like a sudden flash of silver undersides of confusing their many predators that world love to eat them. In April, is their spawning time when the turning the bays & lagoons into a milky white colour. This is when more than forty kinds of species including the bald eagles, brown bears, spirit bears, seals, humpback whales, tufted puffins, murres and so many other species depend on these small fish to survive. Well I don't know how much the beautiful long herring silver fish have been effective but I do know it probably had been cut in half which is my best guess.

Poison oil in the sea of the
Prince William Sound

In the Prince William Sound out of the Gulf of Alaska is still persistent with oil poisoning & has a huge cascade of ecological effects from the Exxon oil spill, which is still continuing to this day 2015. There not much we can do for the Prince William Sound short of protecting it from anymore harm and keep up with the clean-up everyday. Also helping with its wildlife and the ocean shores too. Working with the Ocean Scientists for their help so that we can keep from repeating our mistakes elsewhere.

Seal in not so clean ocean

This is, after all why we pay attention to history!!! unfortunately, it seems that we still haven't learned the biggest lesson of all~ 25years ago with Exxon Valdez. The only real solution is to find away to stop relining on Crude Oil. This Post is very important to me & I hope to many of you out there. I don't usually do things like this, but this is so important to our Earth & our Children's future.

Rising seas are Real!

Plus all the folks around the world that are loosing their lives and homes do to rising seas~Global Warming.

Sea rising is True

I mean whether its the beautiful Prince William Sound of Alaska or the Gulf of Mexico BP. It really doesn't matter where regardless of what the huge oil company's say! That its safer this time or the drilling, tankers or pipelines. In my opinion it will never be save & there will be never zero risk!

All over the world there have been so many enormous Oil

Even the Tiger's
are in danger

spills with these oil company's its just they are getting better covering them up. However, it's catching up with them. How, Well its not so easy to cover up the effects of their burning of so much crude oil in the world, which has done so much damage to our environment. Which is starting to show in our Climate change in the rising seas & the melting of ice caps in the Arctic for the Polar bears and the enormously

Melting Antarctic Ice sheets

Melting of the Antarctic Ice sheets just might be unstoppable because of the damage of the environment. I also discovered that there was a new study that indicates that parts of the huge west Antarctic Ice Sheet is starting a slow and unstoppable collapse. So what this means is that the on coming centuries global sea levels will rise by anywhere from 4 to 12 feet!
However, there are many folks that don't believe that it's

actually happening-Globe Warming! But, how do you explain so many Alaska polar bears drowning from lack of Arctic sea Ice. Besides Everything I have talked about above with the folks on all the pacific Islands too. The arctic ice is shrinking every year. Every winter the ice isn't coming

back as much as it has some 20-years ago. Who knows if we will have our beautiful polar bears, whales, white whales, white seals, walrus and so many other mammals that depend on the Arctic to live on the Ice. Will their home be destroy in 30 years? Just to put the Valdez Exxon oil spill in away that some would call the leading or the beginning of our epic disasters~This one alone took about 1300 miles of the Arctic coastline & ll,000 sq. miles of the ocean alone. Get this over the course of that time in the late 80's Exxon has held accountable for over a billion dollars worth of damages

This show how it has effected the
Ice caps in Russia too so basically its everywhere

that later the U.S. Supreme Court eventually overturned. Can you believe that! I can sadly, that's the Government for you in my opinion. Want to know the reasons for their decision? It was ruled by them deemed excessive in the rulings in their decision basically. I didn't discover but tried to find-out if Exxon eventually was accountable for the 500 million dollars - who knows if they really payed that amount and use the money for the Prince

William Sound out of the Gulf of Alaska. We will probably never know really. What did this teach us? Well this is what I think you can't truly trust the government and the judicial system when it comes to the protection of the common welfare of our planet or ecosystem. Why? well we had another disaster in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. However,

Men & Women trying to clean-up
the thick crude oil on the beach on the
Gulf of Mexico

this time they feared that this time the biological disaster could be even worse than some of the other major oil-spills. Many of our sea mammals had no chance in the thick crude oil that was in the warm Gulf Oceans. What happened with BP Oil? As I remember they got fined? That was about it and they were going to stay there till it was all cleaned up. What I do remember about the BP. Gulf of Mexico Oil spill, it was horrific to watch on T.V. Wondering if they were ever going to be able to stop the plug of crude oil that was so deep in the Gulf of Mexico sea. It was spewing/pumping millions of thick black crude oil into the beautiful blue/green sea with so many of the sea mammals at the Mercy of folks trying their best to save as many as they could. However, many died covered in the thick crude oil. So what have we learned here? Well you just can't trust the Oil company's they say that they come up with new safety policies for the new oil rigs, however its never true they are all lies..

Otter overed in Crude BP oil 2010

Sadly a sea turtle lost to the B.P Crude 2010
Oil in the Gulf of Mexico spill as so many mammals did

Mother & Baby otter covered in BP crude oil 2010

Otter covered in crude BP
Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010

Dolphin's covered in crude BP
Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010

Pelican covered in BP crude Oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico Spill 2010

The beach of the Gulf Of Mexico in 2010
B.P. crude Oil Spill

It doest stop there my friends & followers sadly there was

Dolphin drenched in oil from the
All American Pipeline rupture in spill
in Santa Barbara County.

another enormous oil spill this year 2015 in Santa Barbara. Up to 105, 000-gallons of Crude oil spilled in Santa Barbara County. It seems that the pipeline was examined Tuesday May 5, 2015. The investigators results of the All American Pipeline~ declared that the town of Goleta on Friday May 8, 2015 that coastal town of Goleta was unsafe. It seems that the town of Goleta declared its own state of emergency, citing the area as the beginnings of a extreme peril to the safety to all people, animals, and property to their town. Sadly even though it was said the oil firm[Plains All American Pipeline] took measures that 'exceeded the federal regulatory requirements

Folks trying to safe a bird in the
oil-soaked coast-line in Santa Barbara County

for the Santa Barbara pipeline that eventually ruptured that week & which had been inspected two times in the past three years. It does seems since Friday May 8, 2015 the federal government ordered the Plains All American Pipeline , to suspend operations and make safety improvements on the ruptured pipeline according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Then California attorney offices started working with local prosecutors as well as the state & federal agencies in the investigation of Tuesdays huge! oil spill that prompted a state-issue of emergency in Santa Barbara County. Which ending up in closing two of the major state beaches till June 4 & who knows if it might be for the whole summer. I lived in California & was raised there too, so I totally understand how the effects could be dreadful & grisly too. It was said by officials'' California's coastline is one of the state's most precious natural treasures. This oil spill has scarred the scenic Santa Barbara coast, natural habitats and wildlife.

Two Boys on the Oil thick Coastline of
Santa Barbara County

Oil Firm Plains All American Pipeline response~

So Here's the Oil company 'Plains All American Pipeline's response to the rupture pipeline that sent 105,000 gallons of Crude oil into California's coastline and ocean. They have said'' Our goal is Zero Spills, said senior director Patrick Hodgins of the Plains All American Pipeline. Also, the firm had said, 'Are we happy with this unfortunate event? Absolutely not. ''We're going to be here until it is taken care of it, added Hodgins. So I truly don't believe in any firm of an major Pipeline company know matter what what they might say. It seems to always end-up with polluting our planet and oceans that is my opinion.

What to know how it the oil rupture happened?

An bird at the beach of Santa Barbara

I found that the Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline had estimated up to 105,000 gallons may have spilled from a broken pipeline , that was based on the typical flow rate of oil and the elevation of the pipeline. Since the pipeline is underground, it will take a few days to determine how much crude oil was spilled, said McMichael who estimated 21,000 gallons of gallons of crude had gone out into the Pacific Ocean with the rest spilled on the coastline of all of California.

The Result of the oil-spill~

At the Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County is where the oil-spill is closest to the nearby pipeline that left the sand polluted and also created two separated oil slicks stretching over nine miles of the Pacific Ocean & totaling up to one of the worst California Oil-spills[105,000 gallons and counting].

Not the First time in Santa Barbara County California~

Huge Oil-spill in 1969 in January inSanta Barbara Harbor

This wasn't the first time that there was a Oil-Spill disaster in Santa Barbara County. Sadly it seems that History is repeating its self again.

In the the Year 1969 of January there was an catastrophic that gave birth to our environment at the time. It also set off a new set of regulations against the oil & gas company's too. What had happened in February 1969 about 3-millions gallons of crude oil spewed from a Union Oil drilling rig 5-miles off the coast of nearby Summerland California. The pipe blew-out a cracked on the seafloor & the oil plume killed thousands of seabirds and 'innumerable amount of fish' according to a 2002 paper by geographer at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was said to be one of the worst oil spills in US. History. Makes me think if we have learned anythings since the late 60's NOT! I believe we are slowing destroying our planet and there will be a time when something huge will happen with human lives that will make the top guns think, but then I am afraid it will be to late.

The Environmentalists denounce this oil firm~ Plains All American Pipeline.

Workers cleaning up the once
beautiful beautiful beaches of the California
Coastline

You may wonder their reasons? Well I do & I am sure all of you my dears do too! It seems that the environmentalist declared the spill in Santa Barbara County basically a 'wake-up call' on continued oil development. They also urged the state of California & Federal politicians to refuse any additional oil projects, especially in the Santa Barbara County area. The oil spill has hurt the California coastline area's by up to $1.2 billion in tourism economy, which employed more than 12,000 people each summer. However, tour operators such as Michael Cohen of Santa Barbara Adventure Company told potential visitors that only two state beaches would be two beaches at this time would be closed, however who knows what will happen if the oil-spill is not contained. Also there was a Putrid odor that would smell so bad that it would burn your nostrils and give you a nagging headaches too. There were stones at the Refugio State Beach which lay with splattered with jet black tar like goo, which can only be crude oil. Also there was a industrial size trash bin of oily crude oil vegetation that sits next to the beach. Bikinis and surfboards on a once pristine sandy shoreline have been replace with people in hazmat suits, digging in the dirt and picking up oil-laden sticks,sand, plants and a animals too.

Backlash and the consequences~

Well as I end my post, I have to say that what I mean by the consequences of all that I have written is that there has been many Subsequent U.S. Oil-Spills that were much larger - including the Exxon Valdez which dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil in the Beauty of Alaska shores in 1989 & the Deepwater Horizon spill which dumped 201 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

So have we learned ANYTHING!

I THINK NOT! WHY! WELL I LIVE IN SEATTLE WASHINGTON AND I DON'T KNOW IF YOU ALL HAVE BEEN KEEPING UP ON THE LATENESS NEWS, HOWEVER THERE IS A NEW

OIL RIG THAT HAS BEEN AT OUR DOCKS HERE IN SEATTLE ALL SPRING AND SUMMER WHICH IS PLANNING TO DRILL WILL IT SHELL ROYAL DUTCH FLEET TO THE CHUKCHI SEA OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF ABOUT 70 MILES NORTHWEST OF THE VILLAGE OF WAINWRIGHT. Their plan is to drill six well using the Noble Discoverer and Polar Pioneer rigs at its currently

Hundreds of people in Seattle protesting Shell

approved sites offshore line in Alaska. Also the Department is also considering a request from Shell to extend it time in the Arctic. The Shell Drill Oil Company must wait for permits do to the endangered species act have been issued before drilling operations can start. Shell plans calls for up to six wells to be drilled at the Burger Prospect in waters depths of 140 feet of more which is 70 miles northwest of the native American village of Wainwright, live on salmon. So here we go again drilling in Alaska again! 25 year later! What are they thinking. I mean didn't they get the background history of what damage they have all ready done to Alaska. So now SHELL just wants to completely destroy the entire Continent of Alaska and the outer Continental Shelf's too. Then start the beginnings of world wide flooding of the entire world. How you wonder? Well if all or parts of Alaska is melts or is GONE! and the Continental Shelf's Too! the oceans will rise! What this means to everybody on this planet is the oceans will rise everywhere! to give you all a bit of what that will mean I have done a bit of research on which area's are at most risk. However, I think I will do that in another post and leave with something even more pressing. That I will continue in my second post.

I bet alot of you may have didn't know that because of global warming & the Rising seas it has

Image of the Island of Lochachara from it
disappeared in the sea

caused the very first habited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of the island of Lohachara which is part of India's the sundarbans where the Ganges and the Barhmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has starting to come true sadly. As the ocean continued to swell, it swallowed up the entire island. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people who fled to the disappearing island of Ghoramara too have fled to Sagar, however this island has already lost 7,500 acres of its land to the sea! It is home to over 70,000 people which are in very danger of being submerged by the rising seas.

This is the human cost of global warming and huge Oil company's like Shell drilling and killing our planet! Directors of the university of School of Oceanographic Studies say' It is only a matter of some years' before it is all swallowed up too.'

Besides human life there are area's of about 400 Bengal tigers that are also in very real danger. Until now the Carteret Islands of of Papua New Guinea were expected to be the first populated ones to disappear in about only 8years time however the Island of Lohachara has beaten them to distinction on Wednesday December 27, 2006 Globe warming claim its first inhabited island lohachara. I will cover more on this subject in a second post . I hope that I have opened your eyes just a little to how important this subject is!

I know it is a bit long so that is why I am going to make it a 2part post