Deputy’s traffic stop for BP raises questions
HoumaToday.com
By Matthew Pleasant
Staff Writer
HOUMA — Biologist and blogger Drew Wheelan pulled away from BP headquarters on La. 311 after trying to ask the company to halt its use of a chemical dispersant to deal with the Gulf oil spill. Almost immediately, he saw lights flashing in his mirrors.
They belonged to a Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputy stopping Wheelan to allow the BP headquarters security chief to question him, according to Wheelan’s account. He says he found the June 16 encounter, and the appearance that the deputy stopped him without proper cause under the orders of the oil company, unsettling.
“I’m scared to drive through your parish. I’m scared to be in the state of Louisiana,” he said. “I feel like the police can do whatever they want at any point.”
Wheelan, contracted to cover the Deepwater Horizon oil spill’s impact on birds by the American Birding Association, documented the stop in a video for his blog. The video also includes an earlier encounter. Just before the traffic stop, the same deputy urged him to stop videoing in a sugar-cane field near the BP headquarters.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana has already written law-enforcement agencies in parishes including Terrebonne and Lafourche not to block individuals or the media from newsgathering on public property.
Wheelan’s initial encounter with the deputy was cited in the letter, but the subsequent traffic stop raises further questions about BP’s relationship with local law enforcement, said Marjorie Esman, the state ACLU executive director.
“The problem that we have is law enforcement doing the bidding of a private corporation,” she said. “That could be a big problem, whether BP is co-opting law enforcement.” ……….
“My fight is about the Corexit,” he said. “Nobody is listening to that.”
Drew Wheelan on Corexit
What Is Corexit?
Corexit is predominantly composed of butoxyethanol with a few other minor chemicals plus tract elements including arsenic, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and cyanide. BP considers the Corexit use to be safer than letting the crude oil dissipate on its own. Others consider these dispersants to be toxic chemicals and refer to Corexit as a neurotoxin. It separates oil as a way of accelerating breakdown and at the same time, kills active organisms that naturally consume oil.
Corexit History
It has been reported that Corexit was used as a dispersant to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil. Follow-up studies report links between Corexit and human health problems such as liver, kidney, blood, nervous system, and respiratory disorders.
Corexit Health Impacts
Severe exposure can cause death. Not only can you experience headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems, you can get cancer and organ damage from these forms of chemicals.
If inhaled, the respiratory tract can be irritated, you may feel weak, slur speech, lose concentration and judgment, and experience blurred vision and dizziness. Prolonged fume exposures can affect liver, blood, microcytosis, urinary system, and cause lung hemorrhage and bronchopneumonia.
What Happens When Corexit Is Applied
The chemicals can be injected into the sea directly into the oil spill. However, much of the Corexit in the Gulf is being sprayed from aircraft onto the spill. When sprayed, much of the dispersant lands on the surface of the water. Some mist however, floats into the air, drifting to other sea areas and on land. This escaping mist can potentially adversely affect sea life in unaffected ecosystems and the health of humans.
These chemicals can combine in the air with other chemicals such as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). No testing on the toxicity of Corexit has been done nor, has there been any testing of these kinds of chemicals merging in the atmosphere. These new emerging atmospheric chemical compositions may actually be worse when inhaled than if these chemicals fumes were separate. Read More at Here
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Personally I don’t think it was a BP security request to have this patriot pulled over. I am convinced it was from the current regime in the District of Criminals.
In fact, until I can be convinced otherwise the entire area around the spill is operating as if martial law has been implemented.
bow down and lick the fingers of your master, slave.
Bloggers are not the “press”, please.
Also, the police can question you and even arrest you you for any reason. Now hen you are charged, let us know.
Django is a communist! CNN AND FOX ARE NOT THE PRESS. They are PRETEND!!!!
personally i think this is more from the obama admin. to create more chaos and bring this nation down. if he declares martial law over this there can be NO ELECTION, which would keep him in office and therefore the ability to place him as head of the ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT as planned would be a breeze. i noticed how he sat back and did nothing or hindered the clean up process. BP was also one of his biggest campaign contributors and i noticed hayward was unconcerned about it and had a look of being in on a secret. no one in authority has shown any real concern about any of this. i saw on tv, an interview with France i think, who has a lot of super deep wells out in the ocean and they are not concerned about something like this happening there. in fact they said with bp’s technology they cannot understand why this has not been stopped before now. the truth is THEY DO NOT WANT TO STOP IT, NOR CLEAN IT UP. many things are in place for a gov. takeover and the blind are still leading the blind.
The weirdest thing of it all IS, is that a Foriegn National, who’s wife even ADMITS his home country is KENYA, gave permission to another Foriegn National,
(that’s a Trans-National Corporation) to drill the deepest off-shore well there ever was, into an Oil Volcano, & down deeep 35,000+ feet, & up comes olde oil, with lots of Uranium & Thorium in the mix, & then ONLY TELLS THE WORLD “It’s ONLY Dispersant”! While there’s innumerable fish/sea turtles/dolphins ect, dying everywhere, while the media, is arrested,
for doing things, they only do best & needed to do in the 1st place…….
(And oh b.t.w. The “Longform”, Doesn’t. Even. EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)