BP conducted pressure tests on its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well Thursday and said no oil was leaking into the ocean for the first time since the accident began in April.

As part of the test, BP shut off the valves to a newly placed containment cap. Initial results early on in the test showed that the cap had completely contained the flow from the ruptured deep-sea well, BP said.

Read more…

PBS Newshour:
By: Chris Amico
News agencies report:

Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing that oil stopped flowing into the water at 2:25 p.m. CDT after engineers gradually dialed down the amount of crude escaping through the last of three valves in the 75-ton cap.

“I am very pleased that there’s no oil going into the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, I’m really excited there’s no oil going into the Gulf of Mexico,” Wells said.

Videos and more…

But I am sure they will try to organize it.

—————–

A vigil will be hosted in regard to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the beach on Tuesday, June 8th, at 7:00 pm at the intersection of A1A and Sunrise Blvd.

We are trying to get as many people as possible in the Fort Lauderdale area to come out and bring attention to our beach, protest the BP oil spill in the Gulf, show support for our fellow Floridians along the Gulf, and to tell the oil companies and the politicians that this mess must be cleaned up and future spills must be prevented. We also want to bring awareness to the public and to Congress that we must end our nation’s dependency on oil and promote the use of alternative sustainable energy such as solar and wind.

The photos and videos of oil soaked wildlife along the Gulf of Mexico are heartbreaking. We must speak up now to avoid scenes like this along our Atlantic coastline. If you are an animal lover, beach lover, or care strongly about the environment or our use of fossil fuels, please join us on the beach on Tuesday, June 8th, at 7:00 pm at the intersection of A1A and Sunrise Blvd.

June 8th will mark the 50th day of the oil spill, and groups are organizing vigils to be held on Tuesday throughout the country to bring attention to this.

If you come, feel free to bring signs in support of the people along the Gulf or to express your outrage against BP, the oil companies, the politicians who allowed this happen, or to say anything else in regard to the oil spill. You may also want to bring a beach chair.

We are hosting this vigil in conjunction with move-on.org and it will occur at the same time as other oil spill vigils across the country. To RSVP, please click on the following link:  http://pol.moveon.org/event/oilspillvigil/104143

Feel free to forward this email on to anyone else you feel may be interested in attending. If enough people RSVP, we may get TV coverage. We hope to see you Tuesday.

http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=104143

“There’s no legal reason whatsoever to exempt oil drilling from environmental review,” Kierán Suckling said. “The Department of Interior has been murky and misleading at every stage of its description of the environmental review and moratorium process since this explosion.”

This comes on the heels of last week’s news that government regulators falsified safety inspections, were given bonuses to rush oil-drilling permits, and approved the final permit for BP’s catastrophic drilling operation in less than 10 minutes.

It’s a disgrace. But we have the power to make it stop.

Outraged by the sight of oil-covered sea turtles, pelicans, and dolphins — and knowing that the Center is the group to stop it — one of our board members has pledged to donate $75,000 to our Gulf Disaster Fund if our supporters donate an equal amount.

Please make a generous special donation today. It’s the best thing you can do to ensure that a catastrophic oil spill never happens again and the people who caused this one are held accountable.

If you’ve already given, thank you very much. Please forward this email to all your friends, and if you’re able, consider making another gift today.

The Center’s research, legal, and media teams have been working 24/7 since the BP explosion, filing lawsuits, generating media stories about oil-industry corruption, and working with congressional supporters to keep the pressure on. We’ve been the driving force behind virtually every legal exposé and lawsuit since the explosion.

We don’t do helicopter flyovers and photo ops. We don’t make glossy oil-spill brochures. We just get right to work where it matters most: in the courts, on the ground, and in the media.

Here’s what we’ll do with your donation to our Gulf Disaster Fund:

• • TODAY bring suit against the EPA for authorizing nearly a million gallons of toxic dispersants to be used in the Gulf without ensuring the chemicals won’t hurt endangered species and their habitats.
  • Win a federal lawsuit to shut down 50 Gulf of Mexico drilling plans that were exempted from environmental review. The suit was filed last week, as promised.
  • Win federal protection for the bluefin tuna as an endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico. We filed a scientific petition with the government last week, as promised.
  • Immediatelyappeal the government permit to Shell Oil giving it the right to spew tens of thousands of tons of air pollution into the Arctic with new offshore drilling.
  • Quickly prepare lawsuits to challenge the illegal killing of sea turtles, gray whales, dolphins, and other rare species by oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico.

We need to raise $75,000 right now to make all this happen. With your generous support, the Center’s board member will match the entire amount and donate another $75,000.

This will give us the resources we urgently need to stop the worst oil drilling, prevent large swaths of our coast from being opened to new oil drilling, and save sea turtles, dolphins, pelicans, and whales from being sacrificed to corrupt bureaucrats and greedy offshore oil operators.

Please help us meet the match challenge with a generous special gift today.

Thank you for all your support.

Kierán Suckling
Executive Director
Center for Biological Diversity

Force a reinforced diaphragm – like a fire hose of the proper diameter – that gets forced down the 11″ pipe about 500 feet. Then start filling the hose with a high capacity gas, Top Kill or air – forcing it to fill and expand to close the 11″ pipe.

We can send probes to Mars, but can’t fill a freaky leaky pipe a mile down under water?

Where is an engineer when you need one.

If you have a technology or suggestion that can help fix the leak, please contact BP at 281-366-5511.

They will take your contact information and mail you a form. I am realizing the the problem is not that there are ideas – it is the bureaucracy in taking any action with the BP or the federal government.

By: Hari Sreenivasan

BP’s live video stream of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is simultaneously tragic and hypnotic. With each passing second, more gallons of crude oil and natural gas escape into the ocean.

Read more…

Gov. Charlie Crist proclaimed a state of emergency for Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties Thursday, as the risk increased that oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill would reach the state’s shores.

Read more..

Press Releases from the House
http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases_2008?id=0223

YouTube of the oil leak

CO2 pollution is rapidly changing seawater chemistry and causing it to become more acidic. Ocean acidification impairs the ability of marine animals such as shellfish, corals, and plankton to build the protective shells they need to survive. As it worsens, ocean acidification threatens to destroy ocean ecosystems, global fisheries, and the communities that depend on coastal resources.

While the oil spill must be stopped, we also need prompt national action to halt acidification that poses a far greater threat to all of our oceans and coasts. Already oysters are failing to reproduce in more acidic waters, and experts warn that coral reefs could disappear within a few decades.

This is a pivotal moment because the EPA is considering taking some of the first steps toward regulating ocean-acidification-causing CO2 under the Clean Water Act — an action prompted by a suit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity. Right now, there is a window of opportunity to ask the EPA for leadership in preventing ocean acidification from harming our valuable oceans and coasts.

Your action can help put limits on the CO2 pollution that’s exposing our oceans and coasts to corrosive waters. Please take a moment to urge the EPA to address ocean acidification and protect our oceans.

******************************************
Click here to find out more and take action:

http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3807

******************************************

Sample letter:

Subject: EPA Protect Our Oceans From Acidification

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0175

I am writing to express my support of the EPA’s efforts to address the problem of ocean acidification. Protecting our oceans and coasts from acidification must be a national priority. Specifically, I urge the EPA to issue guidance on ocean acidification that will help to prevent the harmful impacts of acidification.

Ocean acidification is an overarching threat to the natural marine environment and the coastal communities that depend on our oceans. CO2 pollution, the result of our burning of fossil fuels, has changed seawater chemistry at a rate faster than seen in millions of years, affecting the growth, reproduction, and health of all marine life. Without curbs on CO2 emissions, ocean acidification could contribute to the collapse of global fisheries and disappearance of coral reefs, among other consequences.

The EPA has the ability to use the Clean Water Act to get a handle on the pollution that is causing acidification. The EPA can provide needed leadership on approaches to ocean acidification by providing guidance and developing a framework for state and national efforts to address ocean acidification. Accordingly, the EPA should issue guidance that will help states monitor ocean acidification, identify impaired waters, and take steps to limit the CO2 pollution that is causing acidification.

The EPA should use its full authority to tackle the important problem of ocean acidification. Regulating CO2 that is causing ocean acidification through the Clean Water Act can play a role in reducing CO2 emissions while complementing other efforts aimed at greenhouse gas reductions. The faster EPA encourages state and federal action to address ocean acidification, the more likely it is that those efforts will be successful.

I support the EPA taking action under the Clean Water Act to help protect our oceans and coastal resources from the threat of ocean acidification. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

******************************************

Donate now to support our work

Please take action by May 21, 2010.

Center for Biological Diversity   P.O. BOX 710   TUCSON, AZ 85702    1-866-357-3349

BY JAWEED KALEEM – Miami Herald

Oil giant BP succeeded Sunday in connecting a mile-long pipe to help capture what it hoped will be a majority of the oil flowing from a damaged well into the Gulf of Mexico — “an important step” toward capping the massive spill, the company said, but not a solution.

Read more…

My Comments:
Instead of trying to immediately seal this mess, which they could have done within a few days and starting over, they decided to capitalize on this source of oil and ruining our ocean in the process.

What happened to doing the right thing? Where is our Government in all this mess… standing on the sidelines acting like bystanders watching a car wreck. Typical politicians.

It could ruin our business,” says co-owner Louis Skrmetta, 54, who’s seen his income — from ferrying vacationers between the Mississippi coast and a pristine white sand island beach 11 miles into the Gulf — dive by 60% since oil started spilling into the Gulf of Mexico three weeks ago.

Read more…

“Exactly when the oil will enter the Loop Current is unknown, but it appears to be imminent,” said Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida who tracks the current. “Once it’s in the Loop Current, it’s only a matter of a week or so before the oil is at the entrance to the Florida Straits, and one more week in the vicinity of Miami and Palm Beach.”

Read more…

Lake Okeechobee, hammered by drought-driven lows over the last decade, brimmed Thursday with more than 15 feet of water. It will continue going up for several more days.

Problem is, South Florida’s hurricane and rainy seasons are right around the corner. The big lake is rising when it ought to be falling.

Read more..

Here is an idea…

How about working out a deal with one of the bottling companies to process and bottle the fresh water?

It can be provided to the Red Cross and other nations that need it.

This whole process can help our sagging state deficit.

We can use the natural resource to create jobs, that can reduce problems with the surrounding water areas,  we know there is some tax money for the state in there, the resource is used for areas where it is most needed.

Every Hurricane that come through the Caribbean – causes a problem with drinking water. We have a perfect opportunity to stop dumping this natural resource back into the ocean.  We al;l know some of the fresh water run off is necessary for the balance of life and the process of our eco systems, but whrn there is too much, we can destroy the whole system.

Rare Midwest Dragonfly Earns 26,500 Acres

After two lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, last Friday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doubled the size of federally protected “critical habitat” for the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly, upping the acreage from just 13,221 acres to 26,532. The insect, a 2.5-incher renowned for its aerobatic virtuosity and electrifying green eyes, is the only dragonfly on the U.S. endangered species list –and it still has only a few scattered breeding populations remaining in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri. Yet when the feds designated critical habitat for the insect in 2007 — after we filed suit over a delay — they slashed their own proposed acreage by half, leaving out key national-forest lands in Michigan and Missouri. So we sued again and earned protection for those lands.

“Thanks to the designation, Hine’s emerald dragonflies now have a chance to recover from the brink of extinction,” said Center Senior Attorney John Buse. “Protecting habitat is the best way to bring back these spectacular insect predators.” The Hine’s emerald is primarily threatened by urban and agricultural development, off-road vehicles, road and pipeline construction, logging, and groundwater contamination.

Read more in Courier-Life

_______________________________

Kangaroo Rat, Wildlife Preserve Saved From Development

With the settlement of a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and San Bernardino Audubon Society, last Thursday the endangered Stephens’ kangaroo rat and its Southern California sanctuary were saved from industrial-development doom. Riverside County’s 1,100-acre March Stephens’ Kangaroo Rat Preserve — also home to the least Bell’s vireo, burrowing owl, southwestern willow flycatcher, and other imperiled species — was set aside in 1991 for permanent protection. But despite federal officials themselves recognizing the preserve as critical to the survival and recovery of the Stephens’ kangaroo rat — confirmed by the Center through government documents we obtained — in 2006 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened the area to commercial and industrial development in exchange for protection of lands some 25 miles away.

Now, under the terms of our settlement agreement, the preserve will be preserved as it should be — and any future proposals to release it for development must undergo strict environmental review.

Get more from the Southwest Riverside News Network:

_______________________________

Mega-sprawl Challenged for Sake of Birds, Lands, Climate

Last week, the Center for Biological Diversity and San Bernardino Audubon Society filed suit against Riverside County for its approval of the misleadingly named “Villages of Lakeview” — a massive development of 11,350 homes and 500,000 square feet of commercial space — for remote lands bordering the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. The sprawling mega-development would require long car commutes — generating more than 175,000 tons of CO2 emissions — as well as destroying habitat for many imperiled species, including more than 300 birds, such as the burrowing owl, California gnatcatcher, and yellow-billed cuckoo.

“Putting this many houses this far from jobs will make it harder for California to meet its greenhouse gas-reduction commitments and will worsen traffic congestion and air quality in the region,” said Center Senior Attorney Matt Vespa. “We need smart growth and livable communities, not dumb growth miles from jobs.” The suit is one of a series brought by the Center to reduce greenhouse gases from new development through the California Environmental Quality Act.

Check out our press release and learn more about our work to uphold the California Environmental Quality Act:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ceqa/index.html
_______________________________

130 Protests Filed Against Harmful Nevada Water Pumping

In defense of wildlands, species, and rural-dwelling people, this month the Center for Biological Diversity submitted 130 protests of water-rights applications for pumping groundwater from some of eastern Nevada’s rare spring and riparian areas. The pumping would affect lifestyles and livelihoods in local communities and harm some of the state’s most imperiled species, including the Bonneville cutthroat trout; the Moapa dace; the southwestern willow flycatcher; and many species of rare bats, plants, and springsnails. Nevada water agencies filed the water-rights applications more than a decade ago, and the state refused to give concerned citizens access to the hearings on approving those applications. Recently, the Nevada Supreme Court found the state had denied citizens due process and threw out the old applications, forcing the agencies to re-file them and opening the door to citizen protest.

“The biggest threat to the diversity and abundance of Nevada wildlife species is the export of nonrenewable ancient groundwater to fuel the unsustainable growth of far-away cities such as Las Vegas,” said the Center’s Rob Mrowka, who filed our 130 protests. “But unfortunately, Nevada’s water agencies are still seeking to claim water from parts of the state that simply cannot support such water-intensive uses.”

Check out our press release and learn about the Moapa dace and southwestern willow flycatcher:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/… /nevada-water-04-22-2010

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/… /Moapa_dace

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/…. /southwestern_willow_flycatcher
_______________________________

Suit Gathers Force to Save Southwest Forest Species

In defense of at least nine federally protected Southwest species, this week the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service for continuing to approve projects that destroy their habitats on national-forest land. Five years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a formal “biological opinion” under the Endangered Species Act requiring the Forest Service to monitor the populations and habitat of endangered species on Arizona and New Mexico’s 11 national forests, so that they weren’t harmed by any destructive activities allowed under the forests’ management plans. In October 2008, though, the Forest Service issued a report admitting it hadn’t done the monitoring for the last three years . . . and that — oops — it might have exceeded the amount of endangered-species harm it’s legally allowed to inflict. Then, instead of cleaning up its act, the agency simply requested that the Fish and Wildlife Service redo its biological opinion to accommodate the Forest Service’s mistakes. Species affected include the Mexican spotted owl, Chiricahua leopard frog, Apache trout, and ocelot.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service has begun writing new forest plans for Arizona and New Mexico that roll back protections for imperiled species. A new draft forest plan for Arizona’s Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona eliminates virtually all forest-wide protective standards for wildlife and habitat.

Get details in our press release and learn more about our work for responsible forest management:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/— az-nm-national-forests-04-26-2010

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/ … /public_lands/forests
_______________________________

Call In for the Climate: Demand Strong Global Warming Bill

It’s not clear at this point whether Senator Lindsey Graham will make good on a promise to torpedo a climate bill he’s been working on with John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. This much we do know, however: Their bill falls far short of what is needed to stop runaway global warming. It will allow atmospheric carbon dioxide to rise when we desperately need it to decline to at least 350 parts per million from its current 385 level. It will subsidize and encourage new oil drilling, new nuclear plants, and even new coal-fired power plants. It will provide vast loopholes for corporations to keep emitting dangerous greenhouse gases. And it will strip the Clean Air Act and states of their power to independently regulate greenhouse gases using scientific standards.

In short, the Graham, Kerry, Lieberman bill is no solution. And with a massive oil spill already ravishing the Gulf of Mexico, the last thing we need is to open more areas to offshore drilling.

Please call your senators today and urge them to enact legislation that will actually stop global warming. Call (202) 224-3121 and tell them that adequate global warming legislation must 1) preserve the full regulatory power of the Clean Air Act; 2) reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million; 3) rapidly phase out all coal-fired power plants; and 4) protect our coasts from offshore oil drilling.

The Nationwide Climate Call-in Day is being sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Get talking points for your call on the Center’s Events page and learn more about the climate legislation situation:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/events
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/… legislating_for_a_new_climate
_______________________________

Tell the Feds to Save the Frogs (and 247 Other Species)

Frogs and salamanders are disappearing. Two hundred species of amphibians have gone extinct in the past 30 years, and one-third of the world’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction — while the federal government stands idly by. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is still refusing to protect 12 U.S. amphibian species declared to qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act. These amphibians — five frogs, one toad, and six salamanders — are languishing on the “candidate” list, waiting indefinitely for the protections they need to survive. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for full protection for the candidate species in 2004, following up with a lawsuit in 2005; we’re still in court to save all 252 animals and plants on the list, before they go extinct — as 42 species already have due to delays in protection.

Tomorrow, April 30, is Save the Frogs Day: the perfect time to take action. Join our campaign by contacting Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and demanding full Endangered Species Act protection for all candidates, including 12 of our most threatened amphibians. Then learn more about our Candidate Project and Amphibian Conservation campaign:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/… /candidate_project

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/…/amphibian_conservation
_______________________________

Center Writer Named Pulitzer Prize Finalist

Center staff writer Lydia Millet, who’s also a fiction writer on her own time, was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist last week for her recent short-story collection Love in Infant Monkeys (Soft Skull, 2009). The Pulitzer judges called the book “an imaginative collection of linked stories, often describing a memorable encounter between a famous person and an animal, underscoring the human folly of longing for significance while chasing trifles.” Millet was one of three finalists for the United States’ best-known literary prize, a runner-up to winner Paul Harding, who won first prize for the novel Tinkers, along with co-finalist Daniyal Mueenuddin, author of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.

Read more in The New York Times and learn about Love in Infant Monkeys:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/… new-york-times-04-12-2010

http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781593762520
_______________________________

Review the Center — Last Chance to Make Us Your Green Choice

There’s no doubt the Center is doing well in the 2010 Green Choice Campaign, a nonprofit-rating contest hosted by organization-reviewing Web site GreatNonprofits.org. The glowing reviews have been flooding in, and we’ve been eagerly devouring every single one. Besides giving us helpful feedback on our work and fueling our drive to keep being the best conservation group we can be, your five-star reviews are helping us compete for placement on GreatNonprofits’ prestigious list of the top green nonprofits in the country (plus $500 worth of funding). Last year, we won Best in the Southwest.

But if we hope to be dubbed Best in the Universe (or whatever they’re calling the top winner), we’ll need a lot more reviews — so keep ‘em coming. We promise not to let our egos get too big.

Review us now at GreatNonprofits.org

_______________________________

Kieran Suckling,
Executive Director

Center for Biological Diversity | PO Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 | 520-623-5252 | center@biologicaldiversity.org
_______________________________

• global climate change
• HIV/AIDS in the developing world
• childhood obesity
• economic opportunity

in the United States, and economic development in Africa and Latin America.
The Clinton Global Initiative is a project of the Clinton Foundation that brings together a community of global leaders, university students, and private citizens to identify and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, including poverty alleviation, climate change, global health, and education.

To learn more about this foundation visit http://www.clintonfoundation.org

EarthDay…

Learn about climate issues and solutions by reading about Clinton Foundation projects underway in the United States and around the world.

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/earthday

FONTANA, Calif. — The view from a warehouse roof here is consistent. In every direction, there are blocks and blocks of warehouse roofs baking in the Southern California sun.

Rather than letting them sit bare, a California utility hopes to blanket roofs like these with solar panels to produce enough electricity to power 162,000 homes.

Image of workers installing on the roof from Southern California Edison

Read more…

Now imagine FP&L doing the same thing in Florida, with all our major Shopping Malls like Sawgrass, Aventura, Mall of the Americas, Pembroke Lakes Mall, Town Center at Boca Raton, Westland Mall – plus many more – Click here for a list

If California can do it – I am certain we can do it here. It seems like a win win for everyone