BP loves you, Yes they do, because they said so

In case you missed it, back in mid-July, BP was given a pass by Indiana regulators to allow the oil giant to dump more ammonia and various other sludge into Lake Michigan. The exemption paved the wave for a $3.8 billion expansion of BP's Whiting, IN refinery that would allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. BP would be releasing 54% more ammonia and 35% more solids into the lake.

The trade-off being that BP would create 80 permanent jobs (guestimated at $3.584 million/year using the three-year-average median income for Indiana in 2004-06, as provided by the US Census Bureau) and 2,000 construction jobs. Also, BP correctly noted that the refinery would still meet Federal water polution standards. However, the request to dump more chemicals runs afoul of the spirit of the Clean Water Act, which prohibits a downgrade in water quality despite the company meeting the discharge limits. However, under certain circumstances (as with BP in this case), a company will be allowed to use mixing zones, which amounts to diluting wastewater with clean water at a distance offshore. Federal regulators discourage the practice, but it is still in use.

Naturally, the Chicago Tribune article prompted a public outcry and a push from politicians, including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, US Rep Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), US Rep Mark Kirk (R-IL), US Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL), US Sen Barack Obama (D-IL), as well as 100,000 petition signatures, an Eddie Vedder (singer of the band Pearl Jam) led chant at Lollapalooza in Chicago, and a U S House of Reps vote of 387-26 to approve a non-binding resolution urging Indiana regulators to reconsider.

BP did, in fact, respond to the people. On August 23rd, BP pledged not to increase dumping. However, the BP pledge is non-binding. The permit allowing the increase in ammonia and suspended solids dumped into the lake remains intact. In securing the permit originally, Federal and State of Indiana regulators relied heavily on BP comments that there is not enough room at the facility for equipment that could reduce the pollution being generated. Despite these claims, Chicago officials gave BP a report in the weeks prior to the Trib article that listed alternate technologies currently in use by other refineries. The report by Tetra Tech Inc concluded that BP could upgrade the Whiting plant's water treatment plant for less that $40 million (1% of the planned $3.8 billion expansion). BP is now paying Argonne National Lab and Purdue University to evaluate new tech.

Nevertheless, the public must stomach the idea that, while BP claims to be environmentally friendly, they were fully ready to increase pollution were plans not slowed by an energized (for the moment) public. The permit remains, despite BP's pledge. Note that both BP and Indiana government reps seemed to be uninterested in changing the legally binding permit, thinking that the public would accept the earnest statements by BP. BP spokesman Scott Dean was quoted in the Trib aricle as saying that it was up to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to alter the permit. State reps, however, claim that the company would first have to request a change.

Apparently feeling that the water dumping situation wasn't good enough, BP has recently been given a break on soot limits. A new decision by the IDEM would allow BP to continue releasing the same amount of air polution, in opposition to new federal rules that would require the Whiting refinery to reduce emissions by nearly half. Interested parties are asking an Indiana judge to overturn the ruling. Federal regulators must also sign off on the Indiana ruling and are taking a close look at the decision.

As in the water dumping scenario, BP claims that meeting existing soot limits is not technically or economically feasible. And yet again, Indiana regulators agreed. The mutual decisions by BP and the IDEM seem contradictory to the continued concerns regarding air polution in the industrial corridor surrounding Lake Michigan (try driving through northwest Indiana with your windows down on a hot, summer day). Additionally, the EPA has recently concluded that refineries burning natural gas and other fuels emit close to two times more pollution than previously thought (though they seem to simultaneously claim that current limits are acceptable).

BP claims that soot emissions have dropped 40% since 2000 and should drop lower when the Whiting expansion is completed in 2011. According to 2005 stats, the refinery produced 574,000 pounds of toxic chemicals. Indiana regulators stated in public documents that the exemptions for BP would not cause harm to air quality.

This time, the opponents on the eco-battlefront appear to be lawyers for Chicago Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Natural Resource Defense Council. They are pushing both BP and Indiana officials to explain why there isn't documentation of why alternative engineering fixes wouldn't work and making sure all alternatives have been reviewed.

This is a classic battle. A very large corporation leveraging its position in the economy of a community and going to the very limit of acceptable behavior. On the other side, a very concerned populace is tired of letting them bully their way into profits at the expense of potential long term damage to the local ecology. Simultaneously, all sides seem unwilling to shoulder the economic burden of a change in behavior.

This newest bout was certainly poorly timed for BP. One can only hope that the populace stays concerned, though given the amount of nonsense that goes on all over the globe, it's difficult. Perhaps this was just a bad month for BP officials and they aren't as hell bent on keeping the status quo as it seems. But let's not forget when BP shut down the Alaska oil pipeline, which is some 45%+ or so owned by BP, who was charged with its maintenance.

They aren't alone, the average citizen is not really sacrificing anything personally to improve our lot. Just something to think about. I'm going to ponder this while driving my SUV in heavy traffic, talking on my cellie and throwing McDonald's wrappers out my window. Does anyone else have trouble getting CSPAN on their mobile satellite TV?

Mutant Redux

No, this isn't a repeat entry. I was beset by demons yet again. The horror...the horror!

The anarchy last night came courtesy of one-day-old avatar, Jew Canning. Yes, you read that right, the one and only, Jew Canning.

ARs away, matey! I hope the recipient Linden reads them, I really work hard at it.







A short while later, peace reigns. Smells like.......victory.....

Junkyard Dog

Mike Vick agreed to plead guilty to federal dog fighting charges. Potentially, another sports star on the road to ruin. The list is pretty long. Brings to mind the likes of Lawrence Phillips, Rae Carruth, Rick Tocchet, Keon Clark, Bam Morris and Bill Maas, just to name a few.

Without getting into any particular value judgements, what should not be at issue is the fact that Vick has broken the law. Standing before the court, Vick must now face the penalties for doing so.

This seems clear to me. Nevertheless, his cohorts have a need to see things in shades of grey where there is only a stark line...legal or illegal.

Deion Sanders, back on July 22nd, had quite a bit to say. Granted, this came well before Vick's recent guilty plea. However, Sanders was one of the few to not dismiss the idea that Vick had actually done what he was being accused of and still felt a need to justify Vick's actions.

This is all the result of perspective.What a dog means to Vick might be a lot different than what he means to you or I. Hold on, don’t start shaking your head just yet. Listen to me.

Some people kiss their dogs on the mouth. Some people let their dogs eat from their plate. Some people dress their dogs in suits more expensive than mine, if you can believe that.

And some people enjoy proving they have the biggest, toughest dog on the street. You’re probably not going to believe this, but I bet Vick loves the dogs that were the biggest and the baddest. Maybe, he identified with them in some way.

You can still choose to condemn him, but I’m trying to take you inside his mind so you can understand where he might be coming from.

I’m sure all of the animal activists and Humane Society folks have a dart board with Vick’s picture in the center of it. And if he plays this season, PETA is going to picket every stadium where he plays.

Still, I must ask the question: Where is all of this going?

By now you’ve read all of the accusations about the cruelty involving the dogs — and I’m not just talking about their duels to the death. All of that is enough to make me cringe because I have three highly-trained protection German shepherds, just in case someone wants to rob my family.

Believe me, you don’t want to deal with them. With one German command, our dog Yascho turns into Cujo. And for the record, I live around the corner from the police station, so it won’t take them
long to show up and save you from the dogs.

Now back to Vick.

Why are we indicting him? Was he the ringleader? Is he the big fish? Or is there someone else? The
fights allegedly occurred at a property that he purchased for a family member. They apparently found carcasses on the property, but I must ask you again, is he the ringleader?

This situation reminds me of a scene in the movie “New Jack City,” when drug dealer Nino Brown is on the witness stand and eloquently says, “This thing is bigger than me.”

Are we using Vick to get to the ringleader? Are we using him to bring an end to dogfighting in the United States?

The only thing I can gather from this situation is that we’re using Vick.

Was he wrong? Absolutely. Was he stupid? Can’t argue with that. Was he immature? No doubt. But is he the ringleader? I just can’t see it.

I believe Vick had a passion for dogfighting. I know many athletes who share his passion. The allure is the intensity and the challenge of a dog fighting to the death. It’s like ultimate fighting, but the dog doesn’t tap out when he knows he can’t win.

It reminds me of when I wore a lot of jewelry back in the day because I always wanted to have
the biggest chain or the biggest, baddest car. It gives you status.

NFL RB, Clinton Portis, had his time in front of a microphone on July 18th, before the NFL forced him to retract his statement.

"It's his property. It's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it."

"It can't be too bad of a crime. There's lots of stuff that's (a crime). There's killers on the loose...You want to hunt down Michael Vick over fighting some dogs, you know, I think people
should mind their business."

"It's prevalent in life...I know a lot of back roads that got some dog fighting, if you want to go see
it. But they're not bothering (anybody)...I'm sure some police got dogs and fight them, some judges got dogs and everything else."

On August 3rd, Eagles QB, Donovan McNabb, made public statements supporting Vick. There is nothing wrong with McNabb's statements, but he echoes the fraternal instinct to protect. McNabb publicly dismisses the idea that Vick could be guilty, though overwhelming evidence and, if Sanders is to be believed, a prevelant culture among male athletes would indicate the opposite.

"I'm a supporter of Vick," McNabb said. "That's because I'm a good friend of his and also we're guys that obviously compete to win the Super Bowl. We push each other. Now, I don't know exactly what happened in that situation, and I think for all of us that have read over the stuff that was over the Internet, the report, you look at it as kind of like, 'Wow, you've got your so-called friends and family members turning their back on you now to make their situation better.' They're throwing you under the bus so that they can clean their name. That's unfortunate. That goes to show, I always have a saying that I've always lived by: If you can't trust family, who can you trust? It's an unfortunate situation, and I just hope everything works out well for him where he can get back out on the field."

"As a football fraternity member, you just want those guys to have that opportunity to get back out there and maybe put that stuff behind them and change their life," McNabb said. "I think for some of the guys that have made the mistake and now that their season is taken away from them, the question goes out of what happens next? Because when some people get things like that taken away from them, they just continue to go down. You hope nothing but the best, that they've learned from their mistakes to move on where they can get back out on the field and play. Being suspended for a year? That's tough. That's tough.... You just want everything to kind of work out well for everybody, work out well for us as well as work out well for those guys."

Most recently (August 21st), NBA star, Stephon Marbury, made public comments regarding the Vick situation.

"I think it's tough. I think, you know, we don't say anything about people who shoot deer, or shoot other animals. You know, from what I hear, dogfighting is a sport. It's just behind closed doors. I think it's tough that we build Michael Vick up, and then we break him down. I think he's one of the superb athletes, and he's a good human being. I just think that he fell into a bad situation."

There are common threads throughout, whether looking at the most egregious (Portis and Sanders) to the more subtle commentary from Marbury and McNabb.

• Relativity
• Ignorance
• Responsibility

There seems to be a group of people that have determined that if something worse has happened, then the rest of us should lighten up about the particular barbarity in question. Indeed, why carry on with the niceties of life when there are BABY KILLERS ROAMING FREE! This is mob mentality. The sort of lawless thinking that, gone to the extreme, results in riots and looting. Intellectually, I can actually grasp the ideas espoused regarding cultural differences here. Anyone can look about and know that people just don't think the same across the globe...no matter how elemental an issue seems to each of us. Regardless of this intellectual exercise, there is a law in place regarding dog fighting. All justification falls short in the face of that point. Besides, which enclave of cultural mores should be allowed in opposition to US law?

Secondly, there is quite clearly a significant amount of ignorance among US residents, particularly in regards to what is legal and what rights people actually have. In many peoples' minds, the law is akin to a code from the wild west where property ownership overrides. Watch an episode of Animal Cops. You would be surprised what peoples' views are on their legal responsibilities in regards to animal care. However, I find it hard to believe that anyone even casually connected to organized dog fighting is unaware of the illicit nature of the activity.

And what of responsibility? How is it that supporters can make Vick a victim here? Was I really supposed to believe that the property owner and registered dog breeder was unaware of what was occurring at his house and is now a victim of circumstance? Marbury, an often negatively-portrayed NBA player, seems to think people are "breaking" Vick down. I think Marbury fully believes this. There is an overwhelming trend toward ignoring one's own behavior as the source of woe. I love Mike Vick, the NFL player, but that is entirely separate from this behavior. Vick orchestrated this downfall without my help and without the help of the general media.

Having said all that, I don't think Vick need be punished beyond the limit of the law. Analysts seem to think Vick will be out of football until at least 2010 after serving his time and a one year NFL suspension, though many quietly wonder if he will (or should) ever play again. If he does his time, he can make or break himself as far as I'm concerned. Leonard Little and Jamal Lewis made it back into the fold for good or ill. It seems a little disingenuous (though, I'm sure some of Vick's dogs would find it appropriate that the once great gladiator be tossed aside like an old newspaper) for the NFL to cast Vick loose after making billions riding his back and the backs of other players like him (Nike "The Battle" commercial with "dog fight" clip sound good to anyone?).

Unfortunately for Vick, I think recidivism is more the norm than not in these situations. There is something deeper gnawing at the innards of the sporting society. It is reflective of the greater world and it stinks. I'm quite sure the NFL is leery of looking much deeper.

Mutant Revenge

What does one do after a soothing, murderous romp in Eversong Woods? Why, you pop over to Second Life to regain your edge.

Alas, all was quiet on the virtual front. I ended up sitting in on some live music (Mythica Writer at Patio at The Mill in Brithys). The crowd was more enthusiastic than I typically see at this hour (note the expression of rapture on my fellow attendee). I soaked in the last few minutes of the show before popping back to my home location to finish a few tasks prior to shutdown.


It turned out that my home sim was being assailed by angry Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle heads.

They were out of control. However, it was a chance to send in legitimate Abuse Reports complete with insane ramblings. I fired off three ARs showing various angles of the carnage and with a bounty of colorful descriptions.

Then I went and hid in the bunker while those evil SOBs stalked around outside...looking for a breach in the bunker defenses.

It's a miracle! The serenity and beauty of the Jessie sim is returned courtesy of some hidden Lab grunt. I doff my cap to you, sir and/or madam. And I take back all the things I said in IM during the chaos of the turtle invasion. Your swift work and use of deadly force here is appreciated.

However, I must demand that you cease and desist from responding quickly and efficiently to resident Abuse Reports and FIX STUFF THAT'S BROKED! AND NECK ATTACHMENTS....THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THERE WERE FREAKING NECK ATTACHMENTS!!!!!!

The Return

Spent a few minutes in WoW for the first time in ages. It was the same, except my new toon is a much bigger wuss. Don't tell my poor LOTRO elf, it'll make his bow go limp.

She's in Canada

If people aren't grasping what you are trying to tell them, it doesn't necessarily follow that those people aren't very bright.

Aurigid Shower

The Aurigid meteor shower, a typically ignored celestial event, may provide a worthy viewing experience this year (especially for people on the west coast of the US).

The Aurigids have had three noted, though unexpected, outbursts (1935, 1986, 1994).

Peter Jenniskens announced at the 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union that the Aurigids were likely to produce another such outburst on September 1, 2007.

The date is based on calulations made by Jenniskens and Jeremie Vaubaillon (and based on earlier work with Finnish astronomer Esko Lyytinen) and predicts the time when a trail of dust from the Comet Kiess would next intersect with the Earth's path.

The expected time (4.27 am, PDT) is perfect for west coast viewers, though the Moon is waning gibbous and will hinder viewing. Four days past Full Moon and high in the sky, with 76% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated. Prime viewing is at high altitude locations, where scattered moonlight does not brighten the night sky and with a view towards the East and NorthEast.