April, 18 2011, 01:38pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lauren Wright, 202 683-4929, lwright(at)fwwatch(dot)org
One Year Later, Gulf Still Suffering from Environmental, Health Consequences of Unprecedented Dispersant Use
Food & Water Watch Critical of President’s Proposed Budget for NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Spill Recovery Efforts
WASHINGTON
Approximately one year after the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, national consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch released a report detailing the public health and environmental fallout from the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico, and called attention to skewed budget priorities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the President's 2012 budget proposal.
According to the report, the administration's 2012 budget for NOAA - the agency tasked with conserving and managing living marine resources - would include $2.9 million on oil spill recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, while allocating almost $60 million to promote policies that would further harm many fishermen and the Gulf environment.
"NOAA seeks to give tens of millions to push controversial fisheries management plans and promote ecologically damaging industrialization of our seafood. Gulf recovery efforts, on the other hand, don't seem to be the agency's priority," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. "These policies NOAA is promoting - catch and trade and factory fish farming - would further devastate the Gulf economy and the marine environment," Hauter said.
BP dumped 1.84 million gallons of the dispersants Corexit 9500A and 9527 into the Gulf over the several months following the Deepwater Horizon spill. The dispersants did not eliminate oil from the environment; they broke it down into smaller, less visible particles and sank it below the surface of the ocean where much of the toxic concoction remains.
According to the report, the toxicity of the dispersants increases when they are mixed with oil. An underwater cloud of dispersed, microscopic oil droplets contaminates a volume of water 100-1,000 times greater than if the oil were confined to the surface.
As of April 7, 2011, 153 dead dolphins have washed ashore along the Gulf Coast since the beginning of the year. A recent study suggests that the true death toll could be fifty times the number of carcasses recovered and reveals that 7,650 dolphins may have died in the gulf since the beginning of the year.
"We're still extremely worried about the underwater plumes of oil and dispersant since they're even more toxic than dispersant sprayed on the top of the water," Hauter said. "The dispersed oil in plumes is more easily absorbed and consumed by marine animals. We should definitely consider this when researching the dolphin and sea turtle deaths. A year later, the body count keeps rising. No one is forgetting that this happened and the government needs to be held accountable for recovery efforts."
Massive underwater oil plumes have been discovered across the Gulf. The University of Georgia found a ten-mile long, three-mile wide plume that was 300 feet thick at points.
Above the surface, the report lists studies and incidents of Corexit's negative health impact on humans, revealing that:
* Immediately after the spill, nine cleanup workers became violently ill. Four additional men were hospitalized after their boat was accidentally doused with dispersant. In early August, 334 people in Louisiana claimed spill-related health problems, including headaches and dizziness.
* Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) tested blood from five people that came in contact with oil and dispersants and exhibited physical symptoms. Chemicals that corresponded to those found in oil, dispersant or both were present in all those tested.
* Tulane University's Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade surveyed 954 Louisiana residents to determine the spill's impact. Approximately half of all respondents reported having an unusual increase in coughing, headaches and skin and eye irritation.
* The National Institute of Health (NIH) is conducting the largest study on the dispersants' health impacts - interviewing 55,000 Gulf residents. BP originally committed $10 million to the $17.8 million study but recently cut its contribution to $6 million, leaving the government to fund the majority.
Corexit 9527 was one of the several dispersants used during the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Nearly 7,000 workers reported feeling ill with respiratory distress during this time. The average age of death for those that worked with Corexit during the Valdez spill is 50 years old.
Despite expert recommendations that BP used dispersants associated with less environmental and public health risk, the company decided to purchase the more toxic Corexit from Nalco Holding Company, whose board of directors includes a former BP executive and board member. Since then, Nalco has experienced tremendous revenue gains, selling over $70 million in dispersants to BP and the government.
The Obama Administration recently proposed allocating $54 million in its 2012 budget to catch shares - a policy that has put thousands of fishermen out of business, and over $4 million to ocean factory fish farming - a widely criticized, environmentally unsustainable method of mass-producing fish.
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
ICJ Issues New Order in Genocide Case as Another Gaza Child Starves to Death
The World Court cited "exceptionally grave" developments, especially the "spread of famine and starvation," in once again ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.
Mar 28, 2024
Citing "the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation," the International Court of Justice on Thursday ordered Israel to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid into the embattled enclave and reiterated an earlier directive to prevent genocidal acts.
The ICJ's new provisional order—which passed by a vote of 15-1, with Israeli Ad-Hoc Judge Aharon Barak dissenting—states that Israel must take "all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza."
This includes "food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene, and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care."
The Hague-based court also ordered Israel to ensure "with immediate effect that its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group" under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The court's directive is a response to a March 6 request by South Africa, which filed the genocide case against Israel last December. On January 26, the tribunal issued a provisional ruling that found Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordering the country to prevent genocidal acts.
A final ruling in the case could take years. ICJ rules permit the court to "revoke or modify any decision concerning provisional measures if, in its opinion, some change in the situation justifies such revocation or modification."
Critics accuse Israel of ignoring the January 26 order. South Africa said its March 6 request for modification was prompted by "horrific deaths from starvation of Palestinian children, including babies, brought about by Israel's deliberate acts and omissions" including "concerted attempts" since January 26 to ensure the defunding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) "and Israel's attacks on starving Palestinians seeking to access what extremely limited humanitarian assistance Israel permits into Northern Gaza."
The new ICJ order notes that "Israel rejects 'in the strongest terms' South Africa's claims that incidents of starvation in Gaza are a direct result of its deliberate acts and omissions."
However, the court found that "exceptionally grave" recent developments, including "at least 31 people, including 27 children, having already died of malnutrition and dehydration... constitute a change in the situation."
Underscoring the severity of the crisis, a 5-year-old boy,
identified by Al Jazeera as Mohammed Naeem al-Najar, died of malnutrition Thursday at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
This, as Israel is blocking UNRWA aid convoys from entering the northern part of the besieged strip.
The U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday published a draft report that found "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a move that came on the same day as the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the ongoing war, a move enabled by a U.S. abstention.
More than 30 nations, as well as the the Arab League, African Union, and other international organizations, have joined South Africa's ICJ suit. On Wednesday, Ireland said it would intervene in the case after observing "blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale" by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Palestinian and international officials say that since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, Israeli bombs and bullets have killed at least 32,552 Palestinians—most of them women and children—while wounding nearly 75,000 others. At least 7,000 more Palestinians are missing and feared dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings. Approximately 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced.
Keep ReadingShow Less
House Dems Tell Biden to 'Enforce US Law' as Israel Obstructs Gaza Aid
"Israel’s restriction of this aid and Prime Minister Netanyahu's refusal to address U.S. concerns on this issue is absolutely unacceptable," wrote six House Democrats.
Mar 28, 2024
While United Nations experts and human rights groups around the world continue to call on U.S. President Biden to end his support for Israel as it bombards Gaza and blocks aid, six House Democrats told the president that his policy in the region is a straightforward violation of U.S. law, and must change immediately.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) led lawmakers including Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) in calling on Biden to "enforce U.S. law" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government.
With Israel continuing to block aid to Gaza—even as the International Food Security Phase Classification initiative (IPC) warns that parts of northern Gaza are already facing famine—the lawmakers said Netanyahu is "repeatedly interfering in U.S. humanitarian operations in direct violation of the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act—Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961."
The Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act states that the U.S. cannot provide military aid to any country that is prohibiting or restricting the delivery of U.S. assistance into an area.
Despite State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller's claim this week that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law "when it comes to the conduct of the war or the provision of humanitarian assistance," the International Court of Justice on Thursday ordered Israel to ensure the delivery of urgently needed aid and warned that "famine is setting in" due to Israel's actions.
"The need to deliver humanitarian aid by any means possible has never been more pressing," wrote the lawmakers on Thursday. "This fact was emphasized by your administration's decision to begin airdropping supplies into Gaza in recent weeks, and your announcement of U.S. participation in constructing a temporary port in Gaza to expand the flow of aid."
"Israel's restriction of this aid and Prime Minister Netanyahu's refusal to address U.S. concerns on this issue is absolutely unacceptable," they said.
The letter follows similar calls from U.S. senators and more than two dozen human rights groups who earlier pointed out that Biden need look no further than the Foreign Assistance Act to know that the U.S. can no longer provide Israel with military support.
"This law is very straightforward," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told NPR earlier this month. "It's clearly triggered by the facts on the ground in Gaza, where we now have kids who have literally died of starvation, and hundreds of thousands of people on the verge of starvation, with 4 out of the 5 hungriest people in the world today in Gaza."
McCollum and her colleagues wrote that Biden must also "reassess how our assistance is provided to Israel" if it moves forward with plans to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, "a move that would put the 1.5 million Palestinians displaced from other parts of Gaza in imminent danger and exacerbate the rate of disease, starvation, and death in the conflict."
"We echo our colleagues in the U.S. Senate in imploring you to enforce U.S. law with the Netanyahu government," wrote McCollum and her colleagues. "Mr. President, the situation in Gaza is dire. Immediate action from the United States is necessary to stop further loss of civilian life, and we urge you to use every tool at your disposal to end the suffering in this crisis and to keep this conflict from expanding."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Progressives Praise New US Guidelines for Government AI Use
"Today, the OMB's guidance takes us one step further down the path of facing a technology-rich future that begins to address its harms," said Maya Wiley.
Mar 28, 2024
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Thursday a Office of Management and Budget guidance regarding how the federal government will utilize new artificial intelligence tools going forward, and it received praise from some progressives.
The guidance focuses on how federal agencies can benefit from utilizing AI tools but also the risks involved in putting them to use.
"The order directed sweeping action to strengthen AI safety and security, protect Americans' privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers and workers, promote innovation and competition, advance American leadership around the world, and more," says a White House fact sheet.
At the first-ever Global AI Summit last year, I laid out our vision for a future where AI advances the public interest.
To help build that future, I am announcing our first government-wide policy to promote the safe, secure, and responsible use of AI. https://t.co/6NPXLWn8Oc
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) March 28, 2024
The guidance says all federal agencies will now have a senior leader in charge of the use of AI tools, agencies will have to publicly report how they're using AI, agencies will be required to create "concrete safeguards" to protect the rights of citizens, and more.
Damon T. Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called it "a significant step to implement meaningful safeguards on the government's use of artificial intelligence."
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said it's necessary to make sure technology "serves us," rather than "harms us," and it should "advance our democracy rather than disrupt it."
"Today, the OMB's guidance takes us one step further down the path of facing a technology-rich future that begins to address its harms," Wiley said. "The guidance puts rights-protecting principles of the White House's historic AI Bill of Rights into practice across agencies, and it is an important step in advancing civil rights protections in AI deployment at federal agencies. It extends existing civil rights protections, helping to bring them into the era of AI."
The Biden administration released an AI Bill of Rights blueprint in 2022, which is an outline for how new AI tools should be utilized and developed to protect consumers. It also secured a voluntary AI safeguard agreement with seven major AI developers in July of last year.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular