View Single Post
Old 06-16-2010, 09:39 AM   #415 (permalink)
roachboy
 
roachboy's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: essex ma
FT Alphaville Who’s not trading with BP?

meanwhile:
Quote:
Cuba braces to contend with BP oil spill

Havana calls in Venezuelan experts to combat potential environmental disaster as tarballs spotted off island's coast


Cuba is steadying itself for an ecological and tourism crisis as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill appears to be heading towards its pristine northern coast.

Authorities are preparing coastal communities to respond to the first sign of black slicks and have brought in Venezuelan experts to advise on damage limitation.

Patches of oil were reportedly spotted 100 miles north-west of the island, prompting concern that gulf currents will add Cuba to the list of casualties from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

Should oil reach Cuba it will be the latest twist to decades of toxic diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington.

"In Cuba, we have had small spills involving tankers on our coasts, but we've never had to confront anything of this magnitude," General Ramon Espinosa, vice-minister of the armed forces, told reporters at a government meeting on natural disaster preparedness.

"Nonetheless we are documenting and studying. We are preparing with everything in our power." It would be a disaster for Cuba if the spill hit, he added.

A relative lack of economic development has kept the north Cuban coast – just 90 miles from Florida – a haven for manatees, migratory sea turtles and sharks. White sand beaches are an important draw for tourists who provide an economic lifeline to the communist state.

Ramon Pardo, head of Cuban civil defence, said Havana was taking all precautions. "The preparation of the coast, vigilance, creating all necessary conditions, preparing the people who live on the coasts that could be impacted."

Officials said Cuba would rely on expertise from Venezuela, an ally that has long experience of offshore oil drilling and its environmental consequences, but that it was also willing to talk to the US. Analysts said "oil diplomacy" could gift Washington and Havana a rare chance to co-operate but details remain sketchy.

The BP spill may give Cubans pause over plans to develop northern offshore deposits estimated at 5bn barrels of oil and 10tn cubic feet of natural gas. The Spanish company Repsol YPF is due to drill exploration wells later this year or early in 2011.
Cuba braces to contend with BP oil spill | World news | The Guardian


meanwhile, bp agreed to the 20 billion dollar escrow account.

washingtonpost.com

i find this curious given that there's no way to know the extent of this mess yet and so i wonder if there's any way in which this is more than symbolically meaningful. it's hard to say at this point, yes?

the dancing continues all the way around. oil continues to pour into the gulf.

people meet
BP bosses arrive at White House for crucial talks with Barack Obama | Environment | guardian.co.uk

they have chats
and other people show up to do something

washingtonpost.com

and so on

while people in chairs debate the presidentialness of obama's speech.

this is french but why not?

Marée noire : Obama part en guerre, mais sans plan d'action - LeMonde.fr
washingtonpost.com
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite
roachboy is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360