“When I asked him what has stayed in his mind most . . . . he  said that when they were burning the oil off the surface of the sea, he remembers on the edge of the flames seeing a pod of dolphins, side by side by side by side, watching, simply watching the ocean burn.”

It’s been six months since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.  This morning I heard a shocking episode of the DemocracyNow show, which included an interview with Terry Tempest Williams, who had a lot to say about the condition of the water and wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico.

After the BP oil leak stopped, the Obama administration was quick to claim that most of the oil was “gone” and in the process of being cleaned up by some magic natural process.   They were not being honest, to say the least.  The DemocracyNow report today contained the information that there are no fish in the water there for the fishermen, an entire fishing industry is disappearing, whales and dolphins have died in large numbers and been hacked up to hide their bodies; and more.  Illnesses from the chemicals and from the oil are being reported, including pneumonia. Whether that will get worse or better is anyone’s guess.  The point of the story is that though the oil is no longer leaking, the danger from toxic chemicals to people is far from over. This is still a public health hazard and it’s a very serious problem, as is the fact that so much of the wildlife and megafauna (like whales) have just disappeared.

The Gulf has been declared “open for business” by people in the government.  But there is very little media coverage of this, except the kind that emphasizes the positive, the “recovery” of the Gulf, while ignoring the deep and lasting wound this oil leak has inflicted on the area.  So leave it up to DemocracyNow to report on this from a totally different angle and tell the truth about the current conditions of the Gulf:  on life support.  No one knows if the fish will return. No one knows if the way of life of anyone on the Gulf Coast will return.  The environmental damage cannot be measured — teams of workers are still removing large amounts of oil from the beaches at night so the media doesn’t notice.   It’s really disgusting how this is being covered up.  And while this is ongoing, the Obama administration lifted the moratorium on deep-water OIL drilling, so this can all happen again some day.

Here is a large excerpt from the story today at DemocracyNow.  If you want to watch the video, it’s here.  This was an interview with activist and author/writer Terry Tempest Williams.  Her latest article on the BP Oil Leak can be found at Orion Magazine.  Her main question is, “Where is the outrage?”  I’d like to know that, too.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Terry Tempest Williams, this [...]