Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Chemical Attack

Hydrogen Cyanide Levels Reach Deadly Range in LA

Hydrogen sulfide is both an irritant and a chemical asphyxiant with effects on both oxygen utilization and the central nervous system. Its health effects can vary depending on the level and duration of exposure. Repeated exposure can result in health effects occurring at levels that were previously tolerated without any effect.

Low concentrations irritate the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory system (e.g., burning/ tearing of eyes, cough, shortness of breath). Asthmatics may experience breathing difficulties. The effects can be delayed for several hours, or sometimes several days, when working in low-level concentrations.
Repeated or prolonged exposures may cause eye inflammation, headache, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, digestive disturbances and weight loss.
Moderate concentrations can cause more severe eye and respiratory irritation (including coughing, difficulty breathing, accumulation of fluid in the lungs), headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, staggering and excitability.

High concentrations can cause shock, convulsions, inability to breathe, extremely rapid unconsciousness, coma and death. Effects can occur within a few breaths, and possibly a single breath.



EPA air monitoring has constantly shown much higher levels of H2S since July and reached an astonishing 9 PPB on July 30th which is over 64 times the exposure level.

The cumulative average of amount of exposure since is currently at 0.8 PPB ...which means that residents have on average been subjected to almost 6 times the exposure limit over the last month.


The shrimp are dead, the fish are dead, plants are dying from the toxic rain, the oxygen levels in the ocean are depleted to a state never before recorded, and now Louisianans are subject to an average 6 times the safe level of H2S and a peak of 64 times the maximum level the EPA will allow. And these numbers are from almost a month ago.

The more interesting thing about this story is the timing, as Mike Rivero pointed out on his radio show. Because according to BP and Barry Soetorobama, no oil or methane has been released in the entire region containing their Macondo well since they allegedly capped Well A on July 15. So why did the levels of hydrogen cyanide continue to rise, peaking 15 days after that? Yes it would take a couple of days for the gas to come onto shore from the former drilling site of Deepwater Horizon, but over two weeks? I don't think that's the explanation.

The unfortunate truth is that even if BP was able to successfully cap their well(s), that no longer makes the slightest difference in the long-term outcome here. Since, as I've written many times, the well casing is compromised and because BP damaged the sea floor's integrity even more than it was damaged in the initial blowout, trying their high-pressure "top-kill" pumping, oil, methane and the other nasty things like benzene and H2S are simply leaking out of the ground instead of from the broken well. We have not even begun to see the reality of the biological devastation that BP's actions will have caused. It will end up being equivalent to that of a chemical weapons attack from a foreign enemy.

At this point, BP is a de facto foreign enemy operating inside our borders, in effect sabotaging the country. The peoples of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida know this, because our states are being directly affected. But people in all corners of America, from Alaska and Hawaii to California and Maine should share equal concern, because this Gulf oil disaster will end up affecting everyone, if not all to equal degrees. The Gulf of Mexico will not yield usable numbers of healthy fish, shrimp, oysters or shellfish this year or next for sure, and probably not for years to come. As in zero fishing industry for the near future.

Fish are dying by the tens of thousands and washing up on shore along the East Coast now, from Florida all the way up to New England. The fishing industry in the Atlantic will probably not be completely wiped out as the Gulf's has been, but it will suffer significant damage. Give the oil and methane and Corexit another couple of weeks to works their way up to Maine and maybe Red Lobster will have to rethink its corporate identity and perhaps re-open as El Taco Rojo if it wants to survive this disaster.

Farmers in the southeastern United States will be at the mercy of the weather, but certainly some crop damage will occur as toxic rain deposits on the fields the poison gases it picked up from the Gulf. This has already started. And the long term damage to the human population is still insidiously hidden because it is just that -- a threat that will become apparent only after time. The increased rate of miscarriage in coastal communities, the increase in cancers, kidney and liver diseases, blood disorders and all the rest of the horrors that Corexit 9500 cause in people and animals will take years to appear and be recorded.

I've been writing about these things since weeks after Deepwater Horizon exploded and I sounded like a nut to the average reader. Now all the dire predictions (with the exception of the mass evacuations I warned of) are being seen to have come true, nearly every day bringing a new horror story which appears in mainstream news. In my opinion the Gulf oil disaster is the crime of the century thus far. I certainly hope that at some point, after Barry Soetoro and his criminal government are swept out of power, BP will be held accountable for this attack on the United States. The oil and gas are harmful enough to the water and its plant and animal life but the Corexit they are still using (while denying it) will have caused the worst of the damage to the people of the Gulf Coast. I hope the situation isn't as dire as I paint, but I fear that is exactly the case.

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