rojosramblings

I normally just link top articles but this one is too much:

18 Years on, Exxon Valdez Oil Still Pours into Alaskan Waters Study concludes threat to ecology could last decades Tanker's owner dismisses report as insignificant

by Ewen MacAskill

Crude oil is still polluting Alaskan waters almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, according to a study by US government scientists to be published in two weeks. The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska. The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday. Predictions that the pollution would have disappeared by now have proved to be inaccurate, and the damaged ecosystem is struggling to recover. The lingering oil, lying below the surface, affects wildlife and the general environment, and "degrades the wilderness character" of protected lands, the report says. The study, by experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is to be published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. The scientists conclude: "Such persistence can pose a contact hazard to inter-tidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shore birds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands." The oil spill in 1989, the worst single incident of pollution in US history, covered 1,200 miles of pristine shoreline. The slow rate of dispersal means the oil could persist for decades more below the surface near some beaches. Mark Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil said yesterday the company would review the findings. "Based on our initial review of the report, there is nothing newsworthy or significant in the report that has not already been addressed," he said. "The existence of some small amounts of residual oil in Prince William Sound on about two-tenths of 1% of the shore of the sound is not a surprise, is not disputed and was fully anticipated." Mr Boudreaux said Exxon has supported more than 350 independent studies whose scientists have found no evidence of significant long-term impact.

This is right on the heels of the fact that fat bastard himself -- Lee Raymond -- had apyed scientists X amount of money to dispute global warming.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

This story is also from the Guardian.

So here we have the American Leader in alternative energy development, the Bush appointee paying people off to lie about the reality of global warming. Have I gone nuts, or is this an egregious offense to the American public. This should be a major American WTF moment. Yes, letter writing to our congressmen and Senators would be a great. Maybe Wayne Allard will listen here in Colorado. (Ha!)

So let's see - America for all practical purposes, is paying scientists to lie. The government is forcing climatologists to lie if they work for the government, as has been revealed in the past two weeks. This is in direct contradiction to the release of the U.N. report on global warming where it states that it will take centuries for the climate to normalize.

How long will it take the American public to realize we have been snowed by Business and business interests and puppet governments--and Bush wants to appoint people like Lee Raymond as government officials to keep out ideas pure. (oh, excuse me, it is to cut down administrative overhead.)

What an asshole!

rojomojo