The Oil has been Stopped

After 85 days of dumping oil into our oceans, BP has finally stopped the leak.

Shocking New Numbers

The government has released new data on the BP Deepwater spill, from the article
"By comparison, Exxon Valdez, the previous worst U.S. oil spill, was just about 11 million gallons. The worst peacetime oil spill, 1979's Ixtoc 1 in Mexico, was about 140 million gallons over 10 months. The new figures mean Deepwater Horizon is producing an Exxon Valdez size spill every five to 13 days."

An Exxon Valdez is pouring into our oceans every 5 to 13 days?!?

BP Protests/Boycott

The NY Times has a good article about protests at BP stations including AM/PM stores and it also includes a link to the Boycott BP Facebook page which currently has over 300,000 members.

The Biggest Oil Spill in History

New Government estimates now place BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill as the largest in American History. "Even using the most conservative estimate, that means nearly 18 million gallons have spilled so far. In the worst-case scenario, 39 million gallons have leaked." This kind of makes the Exxon Valdez look like chump change with it's 11 million gallons.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Puget Sound

Sightline has a good article that puts the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill into a local perspective. Imagine every inch of every beach that you have been to around Puget Sound covered with oil. Unfortunately there is a lot more than that, about 222 times the size of Lake Washington! This leads to another article which you can see the oil spill on an interactive map. Informative and sad.

98 Ton Cement Dome Failure

Unfortunately it sounds like BP's 98 Ton Cement Dome that was intended to act as a funnel to control the main oil spill in the Gulf has failed, so they are going to have to try something new to stop the leak.

The good news is that we could put the 98 Ton Dome to work right here in South Seattle! BP could drop that very same dome on top of their AMPM store at 5620 MLK to control the amount of trash that spews out onto the streets from their property! Unlike the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico I'm almost 100% sure that the the dome would be effective here!

BP's trail of Shame Shame Shame

How often do I quote a Republican in an environmental blog? According to a great article in today's Seattle Times "Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, told BP executives during a heated September 2006 hearing. "I'm even more concerned about BP's corporate culture of seeming indifference to safety and environmental issues. And this comes from a company that prides itself in their ads on protecting the environment. Shame. Shame. Shame."

There are too many great anti-BP articles out there to even read right now, let alone re-post for you. But are you listening South Seattle? What BP is doing in the gulf coast they have been dumping directly on us in a much smaller way for years.

BP is Slick with their Green Washing Campaign

Mother Jones has a good article about BP's greenwashing campaign. As expected BP is trying to deflect blame from themselves and onto the offshore drilling contractor. Hmmm...why does this sound so familiar?

Could it be because this is EXACTLY the tactic that they have been using here in Columbia City for the last five years? Trying to blame their inability to pick up trash around their store on an obviously oblivious franchise owner despite the fact that BP is the actual property owner? It's nice to see that BP is at least very predictable and that their problems seem to stem from their uncaring and irresponsible corporate culture.

BP Oil Spill Updates

The EPA has launched a website to track the BP oil spill http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/

I wish they would launch a website to track all of the trash not being picked up around BP's AMPM store here in south Seattle, but I guess that is asking too much?

Bloomberg is also reporting that "BP’s Response to Oil Spill Lacking, Officials Say". I got a good laugh out of that one. BP must have an entire department dedicated to avoiding responsibility, it will be interesting to watch them squirm out of this one.

BP Oil Spill and Columbia City

I've been posting over on the Columbia Citizens Wiki about BP's environmental practices in our own neighborhood. Am I the only one that is not surprised that this company with a deep lack of caring for our neighborhood is also responsible for one of the largest environmental disasters of all time? The Seattle Times has updates on the oil spill here.

BP Oil Spill 5x Worse Than They Thought

It sounds like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is 5x worse than they originally thought and that as much as 5000 barrels a day are headed for sensitive environmental areas. They are attempting to drill 'relief wells' but this will take as much as 90 days to slow the flow.

Remember folks, act locally! BP owns the AMPM gas station at 5600 MLK in Columbia City. They have one of the worst environmental records in history and they have a long history of not picking up their trash right here in our neighborhood. Please do not support this store or this company.

BP Oild Spill From Outer Space

Treehugger has posted some NASA photos showing BP's oil spill from outer space.

This got me thinking that I should look at Google maps to see if you can actually see the trash piles around BP's AMPM gas station from outer space. Although it's not nearly as dramatic, you can in fact see trash piled up behind the store and in the empty lot that BP owns next door. You have to zoom in, but take a look!


View Larger Map

Happy Earth Day?

What did you do for Earth Day? Take the bus instead of drive? Plant some trees? Pick up trash in the neighborhood?

Well..that is not what BP did! In case you have not been watching the news...that is BP's oil rig that exploded and sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. Does this come as any surprise to anyone? BP already has the record for the largest OSHA fine in history, but maybe they will top it off by having one of the largest environmental disasters in history?

Is it any surprise that BP can't seem to take responsibility for cleaning up it's AM PM store here in South Seattle? They seem to have a deep lack of caring about the environment that seems to go through their entire company. I wish they would spend less money on green-washing advertising and more money on safety and cleaning up after themselves.

P Patch Program

The city of Seattle is looking for areas to develop new P Patches. It would be so awesome if they were able to develop the unused portion of this AM PM to be used as a P Patch rather than a trash-patch which BP seems to use it as now.

Maybe if you are feeling kind you could take a minute to suggest that to the city of Seattle? They are looking for new p patch locations and you can suggest one here. you can read more about the program here.

If you are filling out the form, the address for this location is 5620 Martin Luther King Way South and the owner of the property is BP WEST COAST PRODUCTS LLC 6 CENTERPOINTE DR LA PALMA CA 90623

G2B Ventures

I was just reading about G2B Ventures, a green company that specializes in refurbishing residential real estate in a environmentally friendly and energy efficient manor. I hope to see more of this in the future and I look forward to checking out the house they are currently working on.

derelict properties

I guess the derelict properties laws are now in place?

HERE

Responsible Property Owners

I was just reading about Umpqua Bank of Oregon, the Central District News ran a story about trash on one of their lots and they quickly came out and cleaned it up. I wish there were more responsible business property owners like this.

January 2010 trash update

It is difficult to describe just how much trash sits around the AM PM Store located at 5620 Martin Luther King Way South, so I decided to post a few of the photos that I took yesterday. It is still amazing that a national chain lets them get away with this. Notice that large pile of concrete that someone dumped on their property? I first reported that in October 2008!!! A few minutes a day of picking up trash would clean up the whole neighborhood, but they just won't take care of their property.

There is a lot of new construction now along MLK including a new store going in right across the street. The neighborhood is booming except for this one store that refuses to take responsibility for itself.