On Tuesday, “oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster hit Mississippi shores for the first time,” covering about two miles of Petit Bois Island’s beach. And that meant more tone-deaf greenwashing from dirty energy lobbyist-turned-Governor Haley Barbour, as reported in this Think Progress repost.
As ThinkProgress noted, the appearance of oil onshore led Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to shift his upbeat rhetoric about the approaching oil, acknowledging that “this could turn out to be something catastrophic and terrible.” But after Barbour visited Petit Bois Island yesterday and saw that the oil that came ashore had “been washed away by storms,” he returned to the positive spin, saying, “I don’t think the island was hurt one iota.” Barbour even downplayed concerns about animals being suffocated by the oil in the ocean, comparing it to humans being covered in toothpaste:
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Director Trudy Fisher said samples of what was apparently the same oil slick, taken when it was farther south of the barrier islands, were “nontoxic.” Fisher said water and weather had helped all the volatile chemicals in the oil evaporate. Barbour described the oil as “weathered, emulsified, caramel-colored mousse, like the food mousse.” “Once it gets to this stage, it’s not poisonous,” Barbour said. “But if a small animal got coated enough with it, it could smother it. But if you got enough toothpaste on you, you couldn’t breathe.” Barbour said he spoke with a member of President Barack Obama’s staff on Air Force One while he was on the island, after telling the administration in an early-morning conference call that oil had come ashore in Mississippi.
Despite what Barbour says, it isn’t just small animals that have been killed by the oil gushing into the Gulf. Though not all in Mississippi, as of June 2, “there are 604 dead birds, 253 dead sea turtles, and 29 mammals (including dolphins)” that have been found in relation to the drilling accident.
More from Think Progress.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Since when is toothpaste brown?
Caught in the oil
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
Now we can understand him. When he was brown nosing oil companies, he thought it was toothpaste that was squeezing out at him. Simple misunderstanding, that’s all.
OT
Big picture- shouldn’t the United Nations be doing checks of the
background action in the Central Atlantic region of the Ocean
east of Washington D.C. certainly fishing companies are impacted.
And detailed reports of what is going on might make the difference
between fish sold to street urchens locally and the really high
priced meals served to world leaders etc.
It is really astounding that Barbour can say something this idiotic and reporters don’t simply burst out laughing. Not sure which is worse, his cluelessness, or the media’s willingness to sacrifice logic and truth at the alter of “balance”. I assume no one had the stones to ask him to please clarify what the hell he was trying to communicate.
No wonder we’re a nation of received-wisdom tea party lunatics. Logic is no longer the foundation of dialog in this country. Pathetic.
Not sure which is worse, his cluelessness, or the media’s willingness to sacrifice logic and truth at the alter of “balance”. I assume no one had the stones to ask him to please clarify what the hell he was trying to communicate.
sad truth. how those elected officials can get away with nonsense like this, us beyond me.
If tons of some substance suffocate and kill me and make my entire hometown unlivable, I don’t really care if that substance is toothpaste or antifreeze, cyanide or gold buillon, haggis or flan.
So it took six weeks for the oil to drift over to the beaches. But Mr. Barbour fails to consider that the oil has been steadily leaking into the gulf during all that time and is continuing to gush. So this first oil has a non-stop reinforcement oil slick that will last for at least the next 2 months. That’s if they stop the gusher today, but of course that’s not going to happen. I don’t know if Gov. Barbour is up for reelection in November, but the oil spill pollution will certainly be on every voter’s mind because oil will still be washing up on the beaches and into the marshes. The end of a way of life for millions of people takes time, this isn’t a Hollywood disaster flick. Be patient.
Anyone out there have a good recipe for barbecued duck with caramel mousse glaze? I’m sure the good governor would appreciate it.
Gov. Barbour endorsed the Richton Salt Dome Project that projected depositing 900 million tons of salt into the Gulf twelve miles south of Horn Island. When you research his Lobbying Firm in Washington, D.C. you find that last year his firm was paid $17.9 million. A substantial portion of his revenues came from the American Pipeline Corp., Oil Brokers in Amsterdam, the Oil Tanker (ship) Association, the Gov’t. of Dubai and other petro-chemical related companys and countries.
Barbour has been down playing this disaster from the first day and he comes across as a lobbyist for the Oil Industry….His pitch is strictly economics, and he sounds incredibly stupid while his bias is readily apparent. The sooner he goes back to Washington D.C. the better for the State of MS.
I’m a Mississipian and love my state, but agree with all the comments here which are worded very well.
I appreciate you’re views as a lot of people in MS love the idiot gov. So I get the petty flack when I try to expose
him. I put him up there with Bush now due to his asinine remarks.
It’s a sad day when MS peolpe can’t see through him! But then, maybe it’s because of our known lack of
quality education – and education keeps getting cut by Barbour… hmmm, a ploy??
The Art of being a climate denial person, but is it really getting to be too much work for the average person.
1. Early learning- A dash into the house when it’s too hot or if it’s raining.
2. Reinforcement of climate denial- That fort I put together in the woods
really wasn’t as nice as home. And when older, I learned that the car wasn’t nice enough to stay in day after day.
3. Eventually, I think I learned that to be completely receptive to climate would be naked and homeless.
Due to the increasing difficulties in logistics to maintain my level of
climate denial and the expense of converting to a more realistic
lifestyle, I and probably many others wander if we will be able to
enjoy the levels of climate denial that we’ve become accustomed.
Luckily, I ‘m not of a defined religion. So I don’t have the reassurances of knowing that climate change isn’t covered in the ten
commandments or the new testament either.
Definition 4 of my dictionary indicates that the person in denial
takes the position that satisfaction to situation will not be granted.
Doesn’t mention weather the person with the responsibility is capable
of granting relief or not.
And yes an IQ test would be a novel requirement for a leader, it would
step beyond the person just having an alpha personality or being the
best actor (giving a believable presentation no matter what the script).
Claims that the oil reaching land may be no more than said statement of
denial and one of the current controlling the tragectory being an act of
God.
Good Luck with there being more than just the well connected getting
relief due.
I am a Mississippian and I am so ashamed of the Governor. He has ridiculed his own constituents, taken Katrina money to give to the Gulfport Port, and now stands in complete denial of the consequences of this disaster. Please don’t entertain a proposal for him to run for President of the U.S. Most likely him will follow the ways of our great ex-senator(Trent Lott, God bless his soul) and become a lobbist again.