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Some not thrilled offshore to be drilled

04 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In John's gospel account of the empty tomb this Easter Sunday, it is Mary of Magdala who announces the surprising news. President Barack Obama caught some environmentalists and other supporters by surprise Wednesday when he announced his support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in regions of the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska. Obama's move modifies a two-decade ban and allows drilling from Delaware to central Florida, plus the northern waters of Alaska, and exploration could begin 50 miles off the coast of Virginia by 2012. The president also wants Congress to lift a drilling ban in the oil-rich eastern Gulf of Mexico, 125 miles from Florida beaches. Still off-limits is the entire Pacific seaboard. And in a nod to conservation, Obama canceled oil exploration in Alaska's Bristol Bay, deeming the area a national treasure. Even with a push for cleaner energy sources and efficient cars and the need to protect ecosystems and coastal tourism, the nation still needs more oil, Obama said. "The answer is not drilling everywhere all the time," Obama said at Andrews Air Force Base. "But the answer is not, also, for us to ignore the fact that we are going to need vital energy sources to maintain our economic growth and our security." Source: Articles by Philip Elliott and Ben Feller for the Associated Press

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Mississippi delta threatened by oil slick

02 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist praises the "glorious splendor" of God's kingdom this Sunday, but the beauty and splendor of the fragile wildlife eco-system off the coast of four U.S. Gulf Coast states is threatened by an approaching oil slick. The U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday started a "controlled burn" to battle the giant oil slick from last week's deadly offshore drilling rig explosion, but strong, gusty winds and thunderstorms moving into the Gulf of Mexico Thursday could push the large seaward oil spill ever closer to the coast. At midday Wednesday the edge of the spill was only 23 miles off the coast of Louisiana, close to a delicate system of coastal estuaries and swamps teeming with birds and other wildlife. The leaking well, 5,000 feet under the ocean surface off Louisiana's coast, has created a growing oil sheen and an emulsified crude slick that has a circumference about the size of Jamaica--and growing, the Coast Guard said. London based British Petroleum, the oil company that contracted with Transocean to use the rig, has been unable to shut down the gushing crude. "We will not stop until we have exhausted every single option," company executive Doug Suttles said, adding that the company was spending $6 million a day in the effort. The drilling rig caught fire April 20, leaving 11 workers missing and presumed dead. The fire raged until the rig sank last Thursday, severely bending the pipe that connected it with equipment on the seafloor. Crude began to gush from the end of the pipe as well as from a hole in it. Thousands of feet of boom were being readied at staging areas in Venice, Louisiana, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Pensacola, Florida to keep the oil slick from reaching coastal areas. But the precautions did little to assure biologists on the coast, who warned that the oil will affect everything from oyster beds and fisheries to endangered wildlife. Source: Articles by Chris Baltimore for Reuters, Ben Casselman, Angel Gonzalez, and Guy Chazan for the Wall Street Journal, and Rick Jervis for USA TODAY

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Gulf coast on slippery slope toward ecological disaster

09 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

With their livelihoods and natural surroundings in serious jeopardy because of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, many coastal residents are praying with the psalmist this Sunday that "God have pity on us and bless us." The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday it may take at least three months to stop the flow of oil, but there was hope containment domes might trap some of it. On Wednesday British Petroleum (BP) managed to cap one of three leaks at the deepwater oil well, but the work was not expected to reduce the overall flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP officials have said that fewer leaks will make it easier to drop a containment box on the breach. The well has been spewing at least 210,000 gallons per day since an April 20 explosion at a rig 50 miles off Louisiana. Oil leaking from the well in the Gulf of Mexico could surge to 60,000 barrels a day if plans to cap it with a containment dome fail, said Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) after a meeting with industry executives. John Curry, a BP spokesman, said he didn't have any worst-case-scenario data and could not comment. BP expects to have the dome in place on the seafloor and trapping oil within five days, Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of exploration and production for the London-based company, said at a press conference. The 125-ton, 40-foot-tall steel box is designed to capture 85 percent of the oil. Source: Articles by Jim Polson, Lisa Lerer, and Mark Chediak for Bloomberg, Pascal Fletcher and Anna Driver for Reuters, and the Associated Press

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BP pressured to shore up efforts

20 Jun 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The first reading this Sunday tells of great mourning in Jerusalem. As Gulf Coast residents mourn a way of life and a livelihood slipping away on the oil slick, state and federal officials increased the pressure on BP to do more to stop the gushing oil, clean up the spill, and speed reimbursements to those affected. During a White House meeting with President Barack Obama, BP agreed to set aside $20 billion to pay the victims of the massive oil spill. The independent fund will be directed by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. After the four-hour White House meeting, the British company's chairman apologized to Americans for the worst spill in U.S. history. BP is suspending its dividends to shareholders for the rest of the year to help pay for the costs, said chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg. After visiting the Gulf region for the fourth time since the spill, the president addressed the nation Tuesday evening from the Oval Office. He urged Americans to rally behind legislation that would begin changing the way the country consumes and generates energy, saying the expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is "the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now." The president also promised a long-term plan to make sure that the Gulf states suffering from the oil spill are made whole again. He appointed Ray Mabus, the secretary of the Navy and former governor of Mississippi, to develop a Gulf Coast restoration plan in cooperation with states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, conservationists, and Gulf residents. The government on Tuesday also released a new, much higher estimate of the amount of oil still flowing from the well. The new estimate said that as many as 60,000 barrels of crude could now be spewing into the Gulf each day, a sharp increase over the estimate last week of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels a day. Nearly six in 10 Americans want BP to pick up the tab for all losses in the spill, even if it means putting the company out of business, a Gallup-USA Today poll found. In addition, 71 percent of Americans think Obama has been too soft in his dealings with the oil company. Source: Articles by Helene Cooper and Jackie Calmes for the New York Times, Amy Schatz and Guy Chazan for the Wall Street Journal, Suzanne Goldenberg for Guardian.co.uk, Ben Feller for Associated Press, and Scott Wilson and Anne E. Kornblut for the Washington Post

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BP’s Hayward finally gets his "life back"

01 Aug 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s “vanity of vanities” lament from the Book of Ecclesiastes asks, “What profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?” BP CEO Tony Hayward expressed a similar lament when his company announced that he would be replaced by American Robert Dudley on October 1. Responding to the announcement, Hayward said that had been "demonized and vilified" as the "public face" of the massive Gulf oil spill: "Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus." BP reported a record quarterly loss as it set aside $32.2 billion to cover costs of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill. And BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told investors: "BP will change as a result of this accident. . . . We are taking a hard look at ourselves, what we do, and how we do it. What we learn will have implications for our ways of working, our strategy, and our governance." Dudley, currently BP’s managing director, told reporters Tuesday that he recognizes the complexity of what BP has to do to restore its financial strength and its reputation. The oil spill, he said, has been a "wake-up call not only for BP, but the oil and gas industry overall, and we will be looking deeply at our review of operational safety and what we have learned from this spill." Hayward made some huge PR gaffes with insensitive comments in the aftermath of the disaster that has leaked more than five million barrels of oil into the Gulf and tarred beaches from Texas to Florida. The first sign of trouble was his early suggestion that the environmental impact was likely to be "very, very modest." A later comment that he would like his life back, and his decision to go yacht-racing while the oil was still gushing, were even worse. In London Tuesday, Greenpeace protestors closed more than 50 service stations in a protest timed to coincide with the company's earnings update. The environmental action group is calling on Dudley to focus the company on greener and renewable sources of energy. Source: Articles by Sarah Arnott for Independent.co.uk, Jane Wardell for the Associated Press, and Tom Bergin and Kristin Hays for Reuters.

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Indigenous of oil-soiled Amazon finally get their day in court

27 Feb 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the gospel Jesus asks us to consider the birds of the sky and the wild flowers that bloom and fade, while Saint Paul promises the Lord will bring to light what is hidden. Damage to wildlife in the Amazon prompted one indigenous Ecuadoran woman to spearhead an effort in 1993 to bring to light the damage done by oil companies in the area. She has no legal training and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito, but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a long-awaited landmark judgment against U.S. oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home. The diminutive grandmother whose modest house sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of this David-and-Goliath case and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage. This Sunday we hear that only in God will the psalmist’s soul be at rest. Aguinda will not rest until justice is done. "Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old told a reporter at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents has become a fact of life. "Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge that Texaco (bought in 2001 by Chevron) dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes, soil, and wildlife and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities. Aguinda said she believes her husband and two of his 10 children died from effects of the pollution, which rights group Amazon Watch says has affected an area the size of the state of Rhode Island. "When Texaco came we never thought they would leave behind such damage, never,” Aguinda said. “Then they began to drill a well and set up burn pits. It changed our life: hunting, fishing, and other food, it's all finished." Chevron blames state-run Petroecuador, with which Texaco formed a consortium from 1972 until the U.S. firm departed in 1992, for not doing its part in the cleanup agreed on with the state. The oil company called the judgment "illegitimate and unenforceable" and has asked a judge in Ecuador for clarification of the ruling as it seeks to appeal. Source: An article by Valeria Pacheco for Agence France Presse

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One year on Gulf’s recovery from oil spill remains murky

24 Apr 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We have died with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ, says the optional reading for the Mass of Easter Day from the Letter to the Colossians. As the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the onset of the deadly Gulf oil spill that killed 11 oil rig workers, many wonder whether marine life really is recovering or whether the toxic effects of the spill lie hidden on the sea floor. At least on the surface. the region seems to be bouncing back. Beaches, restaurants, and hotels are filling up again. Fisheries are still operating, although demand has dropped. Some say the Gulf waters have proven more resilient than imagined and have absorbed the oil spill in a healthy way. Not all, however, are convinced. At a candle-lit ceremony in New Orleans' Jackson Square shortly after sunrise, environmentalists and religious leaders joined to remember the perished rig workers and call on the nation to take the steps to prevent another environmental catastrophe. "Our souls are slumbering in moral indifference," said Rabbi Edward Cohn of Temple Sinai in New Orleans. "People quite rightly are asking: How and when, and by whose insistence and stubborn support, will the public's mind be refocused upon what happened in the Gulf?" Scientists agree that a lot of the oil has evaporated, been skimmed, or eaten by microbes. Still, some oil sank and it is smothering coral beds and continues to take a toll on wildlife. The long-term effects of powerful chemical dispersants used after the spill also remain unknown. Many thousands of people who saw their livelihoods plummet during the four months it took to cap the gusher still await compensation from the $20 billion fund established by BP, which so far has paid out only one quarter of that. The numerous court cases stemming from the spill will take years to settle. Ironically, Congress has passed no major bills on oil and gas drilling since the spill. More than 100 different measures have been introduced and dozens of hearings have been held, but nothing has been done to make offshore drilling any safer, hold BP accountable, or prevent another disaster in the future, congressional lawmakers admit. Parents, siblings, and spouses of the lost oil workers, whose bodies were never recovered, were invited to board a helicopter Wednesday to fly over the waters where their loved ones perished. The helicopter took those who chose to participate from New Orleans out to the well site, circled around it, and then returned to shore, said Arleen Weise, whose son, Adam, was killed on the rig. On Good Friday we remember Christ’s crucifixion as we await with hope the joyful Easter proclamation that he has risen. Asked what went through her mind when she saw where the rig went down, Weise said, "Just rise up. I wanted them to come up, but it didn't happen." Sources: An editorial by the Miami Herald and articles by Matthew Jaffee and John R. Parkinsonfor ABC News and Cain Burdeau and Harry R. Weber for the Associated Press

gulf of mexico oil spill
Mediterranean food is good for what ails you

03 Mar 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"The Lord is kind and merciful," the psalmist assures us this Sunday, and “heals all your ills.” When it comes to healing diet-related ills, two new studies suggest that cutting sugar intake and increasing the use of olive oil and nuts may be good for what ails you.A study published in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal PLoS One, published by the Public Library of Science, strongly linked increased consumption of sugar with increased rates of diabetes by examining the data on sugar availability and the rates of diabetes in 175 countries over the past decade. After accounting for many other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates independent of rates of obesity. In other words, according to this study, obesity doesn’t cause diabetes: Sugar does.The study demonstrated this link with the same level of confidence that linked cigarettes and lung cancer in the 1960s. According to Rob Lustig, one of the study’s authors and a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, “You could not enact a real-world study that would be more conclusive than this one.”At the same time, a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil and nuts beats a low-fat diet hands down in preventing strokes and heart attacks in healthy older people at high risk for cardiovascular disease, according to research released Monday.Spanish researchers found that the consumption of extra-virgin olive oil and nuts “were probably responsible for most of the observed benefits” attained by those in the two study groups on a Mediterranean diet. The findings, released by the New England Journal of Medicine, also add to mounting evidence contradicting a long-held tenet of dieting to improve health: That all calories are equal. Most of the calories in a Mediterranean diet come from fatty fish, fruits, vegetables, and fatty acids and almost none from red meat.The superiority of the Mediterranean diet was substantial: Those who followed one were 30 percent less likely than others to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or death attributed to cardiovascular disease during the study. And Mediterranean dieters were almost 40 percent less likely than low-fat dieters to have a stroke during the follow-up period, which lasted nearly five years.Homily hint: Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments are at nearly epidemic proportions in the U.S. population. Perhaps your faith community could partner with a nearby healthcare institution to provide information on these conditions. Offer the ounce of prevention that could help loved ones avoid the pound of cure. Sources: Articles by Mark Bittman for the New YorkTimes and Melissa Healy for the Los Angeles Times

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Global warming heavily subsidized

24 Nov 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

A shepherd to his people, King David led the Israelites out of exile, the first reading this Sunday says. The world needs to be led away from its nearly complete reliance on fossil fuels due to their impact on the environment, nearly all climate experts agree. Yet fossil-fuel subsidies paid by industrial nations are more than five times the climate-aid provided to poorer nations that need funds to reduce emissions and adapt to global warming, a study says.Industrialized countries paid $58.7 billion in 2011 in subsidies to the oil, coal, and natural gas industries and to consumers of the fuels. That compares with climate-aid averaging $11.7 billion a year from 2010 to 2012, the Washington-based group Oil Change International said Wednesday.Eliminating the subsidies would help countries cut the greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming and provide money to help poor nations cope with higher temperatures. Richer countries are trying to meet a pledge to provide $100 billion a year in climate aid by 2020.“The world is in a deep hole with climate change, and the first thing to do in a hole is to stop digging,” said Stephen Kretzmann, the founder of Oil Change International. “Governments are not only still digging, they’re still spending at least five times more in taxpayer support to dig more than they are to climb out.”Homily hint: The recent super-storm which ravaged the Philippines is a stark reminder that if indeed global warming is bringing ever-more violent storms and unstable weather, it is likely to be the poorest who suffer the worst. Those who can set a new direction owe it to those who must live with the results. Source: An article by Alex Morelos for Bloomberg.com

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Is there a path to a peaceful pipeline settlement?

04 Dec 2016 - Preaching the News for the Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

The author of the book of the prophet Isaiah promises that the “shoot of Jesse” will bring a "spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength.” Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and fellow protesters at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline are calling on pipeline builders and authorities to exercise wisdom and understanding and divert the pipeline from what the protesters consider sacred grounds. Thus far, authorities have shown little spirit to dialogue. Protesters fighting to block the Dakota Access Pipeline nevertheless have vowed to stand their ground despite growing calls for them to leave and threats of prosecution from law enforcement. Since late summer, protesters have stood beside members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota who believe the $3.7 billion pipeline project, which would move 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day across four states, would affect its drinking water supply and place downstream communities at risk of contamination from potential oil spills. Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault said the protest would continue even though protesters have been ordered to vacate an area where they have set up camp by December 5. “We are in for the long haul,” said Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. A week ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned that activists who refuse to leave could face arrest. Since the statement's release, however, officials have backtracked, saying they have no plans to forcibly remove those who stay. Now, less than a week before the deadline, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple has ordered protesters to clear out immediately, citing a reason other than trespassing: harsh winter conditions. In a statement, he said the protesters' temporary dwellings have yet to be inspected and approved, and failure to do so posed serious public safety concerns. He added that first responders would no longer be responsible for providing emergency services to those who remained. North Dakota officials on Tuesday moved to block supplies from reaching oil pipeline protesters at a camp near the construction site, threatening to use hefty fines to keep demonstrators from receiving such critical supplies as food, building materials, and even portable bathrooms. State officials said on Tuesday they would fine anyone bringing prohibited items into the main protest camp following Dalrymple's “emergency evacuation” order on Monday. Earlier, officials had warned of a physical blockade, but the governor's office backed away from that. Law enforcement would take a more “passive role” than enforcing a blockade, said Maxine Herr, a spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff's Department. “The governor is more interested in public safety than setting up a road block and turning people away,” said Herr. Officers will stop vehicles they believe are headed to the camp and inform drivers they are committing an infraction and could be fined $1,000. There will be no “hard road block,” according to Cecily Fong, a spokeswoman for the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, but these penalties should serve as a hindrance. “So that effectively is going to block that stuff (supplies), but there is not going to be a hard road block,” Fong said. The 1,172-mile pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River. Thousands of people are protesting at camps located on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, north of the Cannonball River in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The main protest camp is called Oceti Sakowin, near Cannon Ball. Protest leaders said state officials and local law enforcement officers were “bullying” protesters with the threat of fines. “It's bogus and I don't know about the legality of it,” said Kandi Mossett, an organizer with Indigenous Environmental Network. “We're not afraid. We're moving in and out of the camp at will. So people shouldn't be afraid of coming and supporting the water protectors. They've been bullying us since day one.” Lessons drawn from the readings John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” We have heard assurances many times that oil pipelines are safe, and mostly they are—until something goes wrong and they leak or burst. Before running a pipeline under the Missouri River, there is still time to rethink, reroute, repent. But as John might say, the time is at hand! Final thought in light of the news The hundreds of arrests during the months of protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota have created an unprecedented burden for the state’s court system, which faces huge cost overruns and doesn’t have enough judges, lawyers, and clerks to handle the workload. Police have made nearly 575 arrests since August. Isn’t there a better way to work out differences than mass arrests? It behooves all involved in this controversy to sit down and try to work out a compromise. Surely there should be enough land and space for tribal lands and water supplies to remain undisturbed.

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