EPA Lies About BP Gulf Oil Spill Water Samples Exposed

  Posted by Alexander Higgins - July 21, 2010 at 9:19 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog

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The Federal Government has gone through great lengths to assure the public that BP Gulf Oil Spill seafood is safe even though an independent investigation into safety has raised some shocking concerns.

Even as tar balls have assaulted the Gulf coast NOAA and BP have continued to say the sea food is safe to eat and the beaches are safe to swim in.

Seeing this behavior coming from our Government raises serious questions about the whether or not Gulf waters are really safe.

To help shed some light on the subject I created an application to allowed water sampling data be easily manipulation and displayed in a manner to help make sense of all the data and by isolating the information I have made some startling revalations.

I am not the only one that is concerned with the safety of Gulf waters, even CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta has warned that despite the Government’s assurances no one can claim that Gulf seafood is safe.

NOAA has even admitted that the neurotoxin pesticide dispersant Corexit that BP is using to hide the oil from the public may have made its way into the food chain.

To make matters worse the Governments continual lies about the location of the oil coming from BP’s leaking well has done little more than slowly erode the waning trust of the public.

The Government’s actions have prompted citizen journalists to pay for independent water tests that contradicted the Government water samples.

Even a local news station ran independent tests that also contradicted the EPA’s water sampling data.

The water samples that the news station collected were so toxic that the last sample actually exploded when the lab tried to test it.

The chemist who ran the test said the explosion was most likely due to either high levels of methane or Corexit.

All of these discrepancies sent me digging through the results of the EPA water sample tests to uncover the truth of what is really in the water.

Needless to say the data is so obfuscated and poorly arranged that it would take weeks to go through it manually and probably even long to be able to draw any useful conclusions from the test results.

So I decided to combine the dispersant tests, along with the April to May tests, the May to June tests and the June to July test and then merged the output into this Google Maps mash up of the EPA Water Samples.

As I was putting together the mash up I immediately found a large number of discrepancies between the Government’s test result and media reports the oil from the spill coming ashore along the Gulf of Mexico.

Now that the tool is available other can use it to hold the Government accountable and make sure they are doing the right thing to ensure the waters along the Gulf coast are safe.

Here are just a few of some of the most glaring discrepancies that I quickly found.

New Orleans Water Samples

EPA data shows only three water samples that have detected any chemicals within 20 miles of New Orleans since the start of the Gulf oil spill, including two positive tests for Vanadium on May 5th and one positive test for Vanadium on May 23rd,.

Only 3 EPA Positive Water Samples Within 20 Miles Of New Orleans

Media reports contradict the EPA data.

Hurricane Alex which pushed oil and tar balls clear into Lake Pontchartrain which is clearly within within 20 miles of New Orleans.

Gulfport Mississippi Water Samples

EPA data shows only two positive tests for chemicals within 10 miles of Gulf Port Mississippi since the start of the oil spill, Diesel Range Organics detected on May 2nd and Nickel detected on June 26th.

The Gulf Port waters has been tested on at least 8 different dates since then and according to the EPA data all of those tests did not detect any contamination.

Yet the media shows an entirely different story.

San Francisco Chronicle – … inspects weathered oil that washed ashore near Ken Combs Pier in Gulfport, Miss. … crude would make the spill the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico. …

Press Herald – Polluted water pools up on the beach at Gulfport, Miss., on Thursday.

Christian Science Monitor July 1 – Workers skim a large patch of weathered oil by hand near the boat ramp at Ken Combs Pier in Gulfport, Miss.

KMOV.com June 29 – A cleanup crew works to remove tar balls from a beach in Gulfport, Miss.

Epoch Times – Oil and Tar Balls Reach Mississippi Shores June 28th – Large amounts of oil began to wash up on Mississippi’s shores for the first time on Sunday, reported South Mississippi’s local newspaper the Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald. In Jackson County, on the Mississippi coast, “weathered oil” washed onto its beaches. Tar balls and oil were also discovered along the beaches of Pascagoula and Biloxi, both coastal Mississippi cities.

Only 2 Positive Water Samples Reported Within 10 Miles Of Gulfport Mississippi

Biloxi Mississippi Water Samples

EPA data shows only two tests have detected any chemicals in the water within 10 miles of Biloxi Mississippi since the start of the spill.

The two tests detected Diesel and Gasoline Range Organics in samples taken on May 3rd.

According to the data all of the other waters samples tests taken since the start of the spill had no detectable levels of contamination.

The media once again tells another story and reports oil has been washing up on the shores of Biloxi since at least the last week in June.

Only 2 Positive EPA Water Samples Within 10 Miles Of Biloxi, Mississippi

Horn Island, Mississippi Water Samples

Within 10 miles of Horn Island, Mississippi only two water samples show any detectable levels of contamination, with both samples testing positive for Diesel Range Organics [C10-C28] on May 3rd.

However, the Sun Herald reports that on BP cleanup workers have be cleaning oil from Horn Island since June 24th.

Only 2 EPA Water Samples Test Positive Within 10 Miles Of Horn Island, Mississippi

Petit Bois Island, Mississippi

The EPA has reported not a single sample of contaminated water within 10 miles of Petit Bois Island, Mississippi.

The Sun Herald reported on June 24th that clean up workers had been cleaning up oil on Petit Bois Island for at least two weeks.

No EPA Water Samples Test Positive Within 10 Miles Of Petit Bois Island, Mississippi

Dauphin Island, Alabama Water Samples

The EPA has detected substances in only 3 water samples within 10 miles of Dauphin Island since the start of the BP Gulf Oil Spill.

Two samples in the area tested positive for Diesel Range Organics at concentrations on May 10th and the third sample tested positive for Toluene on June 26th.

Back in the real real world the media has been reportingtar balls and slicks of oil on and near Dauphin Island area since in the end of June.

Only 3 EPA Water Samples Test Positive Within 10 Miles Of Dauphin Island

Gulf Shores, Alabama Water Sample

EPA data shows a total of 6 positive tests for chemicals in water samples taken within 10 miles Gulf Shores, Alabama, including two positive tests for o-Xylene, two positive tests for Toluene and a positive test for (m- and/or p-)Xylene all on May 5th.

Since May 5th only one other EPA water sample from within 10 miles of Gulf Shores has tested positive and that test found Chrysene found in a sample taken on June 12th.

Meanwhile the media reported on June 25th that scattered tar balls and blobs of dark crude were again washing ashore near Orange Beach and Gulf Shores Alabama and reported again on June 28th that oil and tar balls once again reached Mississippi Shores and showed a photo of an “oil soaked boom full of tar balls near a pier on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.”

Oddly enough the EPA test data is once again proven false by these and other media reports.

Only Six EPA Water Samples Test Positive Within 10 Miles Of Gulf Shores

Laguna Beach, Florida Water Samples

The EPA reports that no samples of water within 10 miles of Laguna Beach Florida have tested positive for oil spill contamination.

But perhaps you remember that oil storage tank that washed up in Florida from the BP well?

Guess where it hid land? That’s right, it washed up on Laguna Beach.

I find it hard to believe that a storage tank from the rig washed up on the beach but no other chemicals from the spill did.

No EPA Water Samples Have Tested Positive Within 10 Miles Of Laguna Beach

Panama City, Florida Water Samples

According to the EPA data only two water samples taken within 10 miles of Panama City have tested positive for any contamination.

Both of those samples were taken on June 29th and tested positive for Nickel.

The media has been reporting that there is a lot more than Nickel in Panama City waters however.

For example, MSNBC tells us that tarballs have been washing up in Panama City since at least June 29th and that means that oil must have been lurking near the coast for good amount of time before then.

EPA Water Samples Show Only Two Positive Tests – Both For Nickel – Within 10 Miles Of Panama City

Fort Walton Beach Water Samples

EPA water sample shows that Walton Beach waters are clear as well, with a single exception of a Nickel found in a sample taken on June 28th.

All other tests within 10 miles of Fort Walton Beach, including tests taken on 6/7, 6/18, and 6/28, did not detect any other chemicals in the water.

In reality however Fort Walton Beach has been one of hardest hit Florida beaches with perhaps the exception of Pensacola Beach.

In fact the earlier news reports I can find puts oil and tar balls on Fort Walton Beach Florida back on on June 24th.

Even more surprising is the Walton Sun reports that Fort Walton Beach Area was one of the heaviest hit along the Florida Panhandle on June 28th which happened to be the same day that EPA took samples but magically did not detect any oil in the water.

EPA Water Samples Show Only One Positive Test – For Nickel – Within 10 Miles Of Fort Walton Beach

Pensacola Beach, Florida Water Samples

One of the most well known areas being devastated by the BP Gulf Oil Spill is Pensacola Beach Florida.

Amazingly however the EPA reports only detecting on substance, Diesel Range Organics [C10-C28] in a water sample taken on May 9th, from all of the samples collected within 10 miles of Pensacola Beach.

While the EPA data shows the beach is free of contamination that clearly isn’t the case and against advice of Federal scientists Pensacola Beach was reopened after being absolutely covered with oil in June . Over 400 people ended getting sick after swimming on the county beaches.

steady stream of daily reports from Pensacola beach showing massive pollution daily on the beach clearly contradicts both the EPA data and claims by Government Officials that the beach is safe.

In fact BP’s improper oil spill practices have spread the toxic contamination everywhere on Pensacola Beach and local Florida residents are practically up in arms over the Government officials misleading the public into thinking the beaches are safe.

Only 1 EPA Water Sample Within 10 Miles Of Pensacola Beach, Taken on May 9th, Has Detected Contamination

Since June 12th Only 30 EPA Water Samples Have Detected Any Chemicals Beside Nickel and Vanadium

Only 30 EPA Water Samples Have Tested Positive For Any Chemicals Besides Nickel and Vanadium Since June 12th

Nickel Contamination Is Wide Spread Across the Entire Gulf

170 EPA Water Samples Test Positive Nickel Contamination Across Entire Gulf Of Mexico Since Start Of Spill

Vanadium Contamination Is Off The Charts, Up To Hundreds Of Times Above Reporting Limits

EPA Tests Show 599 Samples Contaminated With Vanadium, At Levels Hundreds Of Times Above Limits, Across Entire Gulf Of Mexico

Since Start Of Spill Only 1066 EPA Water Samples Test Positive, Most Are Nickel and Vanadium

1066 EPA Water Samples Have Tested Positive For Contamination Across Entire Gulf Of Mexico

Since Beginning Of Spill Only 297 EPA Water Samples Contaminated With Substances Besides Nickel of Vanadium

Only 297 Of Over 18,000 EPA Water Samples Contaminated With Substances Besides Nickel of Vanadium

With Almost 2 Million Gallons Of Dispersants Sprayed EPA Has Only Detected It Twice

Out of all of the testing for ingredients of Corexit the EPA has only detected it twice although independent waters samples have detected other ingredients of the toxic dispersant at lethal concentrations.

To make matters worse the ingredient that the EPA found was the highly toxic 2-Butoxyethanol.

Both detections of the 2-Butoxyethanol were near Grand Isle and had concentrations of .05 mg/l.

After 2 Million Gallons Toxic Corexit Ingredient Only Found Twice By EPA

From Over 18,000 EPA Samples Since Start Of Spill Diesel, Gasoline Or Oil Only Found in 19 Samples

The EPA has tested over 18,000 samples of water all over the Gulf of Mexico since the start of the spill.

Amazingly only 19 of those sames where found to have Diesel, Gasoline, or Oil contamination.

More Issues With The Government Water Samples

The EPA water samples have 80 different names of substances that have been tested for while only 33 of those substances have been detected.

There also seems to be no consistency between the minimum reporting threshold as the minimum concentration seems to vary for some chemicals on an almost daily basis.

There also seems to be a lack of reporting of the offshore data where scientists are finding huge plumes of oil and methane beneath the surface.

It also appears that the EPA has switch the name of some chemicals to further obfuscate the data.

The EPA seems to be wasting time testing for common minerals such as Iron and Nickel and reporting the data in quantities that are not easily convertible to ratios like PPM (Parts Per Million) that is often used to show the toxicity of the substances being tested.

Perhaps the most alarming thing about the tests is the lack of testing for some of the more dangerous substances that one would imagine the Federal Government would be testing for.

Those substance missing from the list include Arsenic which scientists are raising the alarm is on the rise throughout the Gulf because of the spill, methane which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and BP denies is in the water column and perhaps the most dangerous threat of all hydrogen sulfide.
 

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