Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (192743)	5/31/2010 2:09:51 AM
From: Wharf Rat	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361390

No, the BP oil disaster is not “Worse Than Katrina” In Katrina, "at least 1,836 people lost their lives.... Total damage was $81 billion." Joe Romm May 30, 2010 I get it. Many progressives are angry with Obama for many grievances, some of which are genuine, such as his inane seeming embrace of offshore drilling (though, ironically, he actually closed off most of the coastal US to offshore drilling). But some progressives seem to be taking the anger a bit far. I’ve been as outspoken as anyone on the devastation — human and environmental — that the BP oil disaster is going to cause (see “The human dimensions of oil spills” and “The BP oil disaster is a health disaster, too” and “BP’s dispersants are toxic — but not as toxic as dispersed oil“). And 11 people have been killed in this tragedy (so far) — by the reckless behavior of BP. That said, I would have thought people knew what happened in Katrina. But maybe not. Of Katrina, Wikipedia reports: At least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States. Total damage was $81 billion (2005 USD), nearly triple the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. So we have a long, long way to go before the BP oil disaster is even close to Katrina. Since progressives never believe low-ball official estimates, try googling “Katrina deaths.” And you’ll find USA Today reported in 2007: Hurricane Katrina’s tragic aftermath lingered for at least a year after the storm abated, boosting New Orleans’ death rate last year by 47% compared with two years before the levees broke, researchers reported Thursday…. “We can get hung up on the numbers, but the bottom line is that people are dying at a faster rate here post-Katrina,” says Jullette Saussy, director of New Orleans EMS. “The lack of primary care, of mental health care and of long waits in emergency rooms all have (worsened) people’s normally controllable chronic diseases,” she says. “Diabetes, respiratory disease and hypertension all are killers, especially when they’re not dealt with.” The storm’s impact on the state office that tracks vital statistics made those deaths difficult to measure. To get information, Stephens’ team tracked death notices in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and compared the findings with the state’s vital statistics. He said the study wasn’t designed to determine what caused the excess deaths. From January to June 2006, they found on average 1,317 death notices a month, for a mortality rate of about 91 per 100,000 people. In 2002 and 2004, the average was 924 notices a month, for a death rate of 62 per 100,000, 47% fewer than after the storm. So while the BP oil disaster is an unmitigated catastrophe and sure to get even worse, it can’t be compared to Katrina. There is no point. And it does a disservice to the memory of those who suffered and died in that superstorm. Finally, the link in the HuffPost story goes here, which has no comparison to Katrina at all. It makes clear that “the Gulf oil spill is probably the biggest environmental disaster the country has ever faced.” And that is probably true (if we don’t count global warming). But it still ain’t Katrina. climateprogress.org

To: SiouxPal who wrote (192743)	5/31/2010 12:43:19 PM
From: koan	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361390

I don't think the issue is capping the well, it is the clean up. But BP only wanted to drill one relief hole and Obama made them drill two. This disaster has to be divided between "capping the well" and "the clean up." I would leave BP to cap the well, but the government should be coordinating the clean up. The reason is that BP will purposely drag their feet on the cleaning effort knowing it will cost much less to litigate their way out of the damage. BP will only do "a political clean up", enough so they can have a defense in court. They have already tried to get all the law suits to one oil friendy judge in Texas. They are following the Exxon game plan. Each time they lose a suit they just appeal it to a right wing oil friendly judge who reverses the judgements. This should be clear to everyone. After 20 years the supreme court finally reduced the punitive damages from 5 billion to 500 million. Once again the appeal process worked! Exxon made 45 billion last year and got away from the Valdez disaster cheaply.