a few days later ray began was in the gulf -- reagan was in the gulf. she was on the delta. she was in the buy yous, she was in the estuaries, she was in the mashes. marshes. rocky chriser in, paul low gonzalez, jessica lass, gina solomon and several others. a few days after that nrdc president frances beinecke was down in the gulf flying over the spill and meeting herself, hearing firsthand from the people whose lives had been turned upside down by this unfolding catastrophe. when president obama put together the national commission to assess this disaster and try and forge a national way forward, he wisely named frances beinecke to sit on that commission. she immediately removed herself from all nrdc activities related to the spill, and peter lehner stepped to the fore. with a strategic vision and a stabilizing force that has kept nrdc focused and be on the case. peter understood from the very beginning that this was a disaster that would have broad and cat pick reper -- catastrophic repepper cushions for the coastal waters, for the wetlands. for the irreplaceable habitat

in fact, an estimated 174,000 still suffer from gulf war illness, including gulf war syndrome. these veterans and their families must now wage a campaign of a different sort within the v.a. system. this includes my constituent, michelle como of dixville, maine who was exposed to toxic gas as a member of the army national guard. this led to migraines that has since herndonned her disabled. her two daughters were born with rare birth defects and developed symptoms similar to their mother. sadly, michelle and other veterans and their families across the country continue to suffer. not enough is known, including whether or not it can be passed from one generation to the next. because of this, it is critical that v.a. continues its research on illnesses of gulf war veterans. this resolution will -- we are considering today commemorates the gulf war and honors the veterans who served there. it is fitting that the veterans affairs committee ranking member, steve buyer, is here to speak on behalf of this resolution. in addition to being a persian gulf veteran himself, congressman buyer

get 17 percent of our oil from the persian gulf? well, true. but you don't really figure out where you're getting your oil imports. because what determines the price is how much is going into the international pipeline. so if, for -- and this is why we have to worry so much about the stability of the persian gulf. because while we maybe get 17 percent of our oil from the gulf, japan gets something in the range of 80 percent. europe gets an enormous amount of their oil. and if you destabilize that area, and you interrupt the production of oil, then that's when you really start having big economic problems, because the oil prices are just going to go -- are going to escalate. because you've taken a huge portion of the oil out of the market. c-span: is what you're saying that by us buying a million barrels a day -- if that's what it is -- out of iraq, that we -- that money's going to building the weapons of mass destruction? >> guest: well, actually, what we're buying from iraq is "legal oil." and in 1996, because of the enormous suffe

but in july 2005, hurricane dennis swirled over the gulf of mexico. the rig's celebrity would be short lived. thunder horse toppled over. >> this was a state-of-the-art rig which had cost bp billions of dollars to design and build, and it looked like it was going to sink. it was very embarrassing. >> narrator: after an investigation, bp discovered that the storm wasn't the problem. >> that, in itself, shouldn't have been disastrous. it turns out that bp engineers had incorrectly installed a number of valves that are meant to control the flow of water in the supports that keep the rig afloat. and the rig, as a result, took on water instead of shedding it. >> narrator: a senior engineer on the thunder horse project agrees it was human error. >> the storm is not really the cause of why that thing almost flipped. it's because the check valve was installed backwards, okay? and all that was probably caused by being in a hurry and not dotting their is and crossing their ts, in this case. >> narrator: the platform became one more big black eye for bp. >> you

oil spill and same with that effect in the gulf of mexico in the gulf stream but the b.p. effect is now affecting whether what you say about that it seems like they're perhaps clutching at straws here. well those are there of course there are accidents in the catastrophic which happened there's a pretty is a very severe environmental disaster but it has nothing to do with their climate change so far and the reason the scientist said it it's not that they said it's actually leaked they said it may be linked and the reason for that is that if you were spiel say billions of barrels of oil. there would actually in fact they were peroration of the weather or the water that would cause it drop in the central european part of russia but that amount of for oil was not there. it was not that much on the surface it was mostly in the deep so the. gulf stream ever peroration parts and it was not a factor so there is no link between what we see now and their accident in the gulf of mexico and you go to just in the head of the world wildlife fund in russia live for us in moscow thank yo

stream have the brazilian current the caribbean current as it passed into the gulf stream which then crosses the atlanta north atlantic the gotland and go north toward the scandinavian countries norway and sweden and of course affect the climate of the british isles northern europe and of course also russia and ukraine the loop current had been destroyed it's probably an interaction not of the immense amount of oil that was released but the use of correction ninety five hundred two would break the boundary between a boil and a warm gulf waters so. the consequences to the climate of northern europe is that. we don't know how fast is a cure with just one or two years it's most like be going to three in ten years but the. british isles in northern europe areas of france and germany and so on will acquire where the climate that normally during the midwinter is more like the climate of moscow there has been more on this and everything that we're covering on our website r t v dot com here's what's online for you right now this week. the russian company or revving up persecutor in formula o

what happened with the loop current in the gulf of mexico it actually broke up. starting shortly after the disaster it will twenty and by the early part of june it was completely disconnected now there's a number of contributing currents for what later becomes called the gulf stream we have the brazilian current the caribbean current as it passed into the gulf stream which today crosses the atlanta north atlantic the. north toward the scandinavian countries norway and sweden and of course affect the climate of the british isles northern europe and of course also russia and ukraine the loop current had been destroyed it's probably the interaction not of the immense amount of oil that was released but the use of correction ninety five hundred two would break the boundary between a boil and a warm gulf waters so. the consequences to the climate of northern europe is that. we don't know how fast this occurred with just one to two years it's most likely going to take between three and ten years but the. british isles and northern europe areas of france and germany and

of course that has affected a loop current in the gulf and that is one of the intrinsic parts of the gulf stream and if that is affected of course obviously temperatures at not just northern america but in europe are going to be affected as well and as a matter of fact something is going on in the world in fact everything that's been happening for the last year year and a half as far as weather is concerned actually looks small. it's something out of a hollywood blockbuster be a pocket about the apocalypse rather than something that we're usually used to for example snow in australia and in south america you don't get to hear much about that at least you didn't until about this year you were suffering from severe flooding but this is a past spring and of course like you mentioned earlier it's sweltering heat in moscow people dying from overheating fires raging all of that because of the weather of course other scientists are saying that it's all because of the sun so the sun flares are to blame and yet of course there's a third group of scientists were saying this has been going on f

there are difference set of issues in the arctic than there are in the gulf. and i spent a lot of time meeting with representatives of native groups, representatives of environmental organizations who have expressed those concerns to us. we've also met with the oil companies that want to operate there and have made major efforts to show that they're doing everything possible to make drilling as safe and environmentally responsible as possible. the main concern that we have, and alluded to this in your question, is how do you deal with a potential in the arctic, because it is so different. when i held the series of publums all over the country to gather information rell vent to whether secretary salssar was going to lift the moratoriumium, i held one in alaska and the question was oil spill response and it focused on what are the special challenges that exist when you have far less infrastructure than you do in the gulf, when you don't have the kind of coast guard presence in the arctic as you do in the gulf, when you have the enormous challenges posed by broke

now: the claims, the process, and the continuing costs in the gulf. we hear first from john young, president of jefferson parish in louisiana. i spoke with him this afternoon. john young, welcome to you. so what are your concerns about the claims process so far? >> well, it's been very cumbersome, complicated. a lot of people are complaining that some people who don't deserve to have been compensated have been, and those who deserve to be compensated haven't been. some of the smaller claims have been paid, but some of the larger more complex claims have not. i've been in contact with mr. feinberg and trying to get him down to grand aisle and lafitte, louisiana, which is part of jefferson parish to have a town hall meeting in early to mid-december so we can air out some of these problems. >> brown: who is getting the money so far? >> well, you have bartenders in new orleans, louisiana, who are getting money. you're having some boat owners getting some money. but the big commercial losses are not being paid. and now that it's moving into a different pha

i grew up in the gulf coast. all those are places i know, and those are people i know that have been affected, and this is part of what happens when your economy is tethered to an extraction industry, that when things go bad, there is an enormous hit that families and communities have. the other thing is that in other parts of the world -- i think it was 1988 that the major platform in the north sea's -- in lieu of the -- in the north sea -- it blew up. there was an enormous loss of life. it took a comprehensive review three years to come out with a review of what happened and the regulations. the point is when something of this magnitude happens, perhaps the expectations are a little bit out of sync if you think things are going to go back to the way they were or it is not going to slow down. i think as an economy, it is hard for people to get their minds around, but in other parts of the world, they have got it right. and that is the reality that it takes time. this is actually a pretty accelerated timetable. >

six months after the oil spill in the gulf of mexico b.p. selling its assets to cover the cost of the disaster meanwhile the u.s. reports its federal waters are once again open for fishing and what america claims to be one of the most promising signs of environmental recovery however bob kamber who wrote a book on the catastrophes not so optimistic are his marina said down with the oil industry insider. six months ago the worst environmental disaster took place in the us a b.p. oil spill unleashing more than two hundred million gallons of oil into the gulf coast how could this disaster have been prevented and why has this story fallen from the front pages joining me now to talk more about this topic is bob cavanaugh our author of disaster on the horizon and c o of a look at technologies thank you very much for sitting down to speak with r.t. happy to be here mr cavanaugh are you say that the b.p. oil spill was not an accident it was a tragedy that didn't have to happen why did it happen the problem with the industry has and has had for years

oil spill in the gulf of mexico and if we stop and look at that for a second that oil spill actually a lot of scientists worry about it because it has not just damage the environment in the gulf of mexico it has affected some say it has affected the so-called loop current which is an intrinsic part of the gulf stream it's it's a small but very warm current which goes from cuba goes up to florida washington down to florida and goes up the eastern coast of the united states and basically keeps the eastern occur coast of the united states war and like i said it's also part of the gulf stream current and of course if that loop current is affected it's going to affect the gulf stream and of the gulf stream is affected we're not talking about extreme weather conditions just in the united states but also in europe as well and of course there are some scientists who are blaming it all on solar energy saying the solar energy is it's as it is it's peak right now but others are saying that actually that the cast past two years ago so we should leave the sun alone and focus on other sayings and

for the moment i'll be back with another update for you very shortly in the meantime the gulf of mexico oil spill was one of the worst environmental disasters the world the scene hundreds of millions of gallons of oil spewed into the water following an oil rig explosion now coverage of the disaster has virtually disappeared from america's press however bob who wrote a book called the catastrophe told r.t. that nothing has changed with industry regulation and the problems are still lurking that's our special interview next. six months ago the worst environmental disaster took place in the us a b.p. oil spill unleashing more than two hundred million gallons of oil into the gulf coast how could this disaster have been prevented and why has this story fallen from the front pages joining me now to talk more about this topic is bob cavanaugh our author of disaster on the horizon and c o of a look at technologies thank you very much for sitting down to speak with r.t. happy to be here mr cavanaugh are you say that the b.p. oil spill was not an accident it was a tragedy that didn't have to happ

oil spill unleashing more than two hundred million gallons of oil into the gulf coast how could this disaster have been prevented and why has this story fallen from the front pages joining me now to talk more about this topic is bob cavanaugh our author of disaster on the horizon and c o of a look at technologies thank you very much for sitting down to speak with r.t. happy to be here mr cavanaugh are you say that the b.p. oil spill was not an accident it was a tragedy that didn't have to happen why did it happen the problem with the industry has and has had for years is that it's essentially been on regulated in the us our regulations are our self and forced we sort of to the government that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing there are very few inspectors that actually come out to start to see if we're actually following all the rules and regulations and because of the deregulation of our industry at least in federal waters over the last ten years the problems that we have a big getting worse and worse and there's been no one forced me to correct them mr cranleigh from what

gulf but also the the so-called loop current one of the intrinsic parts of the gulf stream of course that the loop current is a warm weather condition which supplies warm weather to the eastern coast of the united states and of course some scientists are saying that that has been heavily damaged by the b.p. oil spill and the velocity of the current has lessened significantly and that of course is it may also impact the gulf stream in the gulf stream is impacted of course notable changes in temperatures not just on the eastern coast of the united states a but in europe will be noticed as well but there are also some scientists who are saying that it could be attributed to the solar activity of course there are others first thing the solar activity is not on the rise that reached its peak two years ago and now has been falling steadily as it should be and that brings us to the third theory there are still some scientists left her saying guys there's nothing to worry about this is something that has been happening for millions of years temperatures going up and down we went through the

the left taken yesterday on the right taken off the gulf coast. a jet engine which is why some experts are saying what you see on the left may be with a jet con trail though nobody has come out to confirm that for us yet tonight, shep. >> shepard: it's my understanding that weather can effect those con trails? >> weather plays a big factor because what really helps or hurts these things is humidity and wind. we went back and checked and yesterday off the coast of catalina, it was 84% humidity and the winds were very high for southern california this time of year the reason the winds play a big part is the winds can make that con trail at the base look a lot bigger than it normally would and the humidity gives it a lot more hep. the particles kind of condense. they freeze around the exhaust, which is why weather plays such a key factor. again, we're not saying this is a jet plane or a missile. we're just saying what the experts are telling us about con trails. we have learned a lot about them today. no one yet has come out and said what this was of

bp's former chief admits he wasn't ready for the gulf crisis. so, would he take anything back? stunning answers. >>> and only four more. despite a last-place score, did viewers save bristol palin? >>> good morning. and thanks for being with us. we begin this morning with the cruise to nowhere. the vac disaster that's left thousands of tourists stranded, right in the middle of the ocean. >> right now, the luxury liner "carnival splendor" is being towed back to san diego. it's been dead in the water since monday, when a fire broke out in the engine room. >> it could take days to get everyone back home. >> reporter: on the first day of a week-long mexican cruise, a fire in the engine room meant "carnival splendor" would not live up to its idyllic name. >> the fire has been put out. the vessel is safe. however, it's unable to make way. and will need to be towed into port. >> reporter: 4,500 passengers and crew are now stuck on a ship that's been stranded in the pacific 80 miles off mexico's coast since monday.itit's my un all the passengers are safe and as comfortable as they can b

the gulf last year. the gulf last year, there were $170 billion worth of oil and gas produced. most people aren't aware if there is a very dense network of wells, pipelines, subsea manifolds, a whole community of helicopters, offshore vessels, a huge industry here. generally speaking, deepwater, we're talking but here begins about 1000 the, water deaths of 10,000 the. the water depth here was 5000 feet, a mile down. then they went down 13,000 feet into the formation underneath the seabed, what we call the mud line. now here's the deepwater horizon. isn't the mississippi canyon that it's actually canyon that was formed as the mississippi river came out eons ago. here's the 5000 feet of water. here's the rig. here's the famous b.o.p., the blowout preventer. and now we go down to seabed and other 13,000 feet, what we will be talking about, this is where the pay sands are. this is where oil and gas is. and the oil business they can't pay because that's where the payoff for drilling the well is. so down here 18,360 feet aren't hydrocarbons they were drilling for that has been establ

of mexico gulf of mexico. witnesses include a peer of ocean energy management director, michael bromwich. a here's what he b had to say. agi >> first of all, thank you for inviting me. again, cochairs riley and grahal and other distinguishedd commissioners, as you know, this is my third appearance before the commission although this isi not a greater remove i can barely see you from here.ortunir discussions both about the changes that we've made in our future plans for drilling on the nation's shelf. the regulation and enforcement share the same goal, which is to reform the way the offshore drilling is conducted and regulated in u.s. waters. as you know in late june the president and secretary salazar ask me to become the nation's director of offshore development. their direction was sweeping and clear, to review the agency from top to the bottom, and make the changes necessary to give the american people the confidence that drilling in our oceans will be conducted in a safe and environmentally responsible day

it said it still could be in the gulf.report came out, a group of independent sky tests said as much as 79% of the oil may remain in the gulf of mexico. 79%. so is the white house answering all the questions they need to about this edited report? i talked about it earlier with democratic strategist james carville and congressman steve scalise. congressman, you were among the people who initially asked for this investigation. the obama administration is saying this is an example of sloppy editing in the middle of the night that neither the white house or anyone at the interior department meant to actually mislead the american people about the moratorium and the scientist support for it. do you buy that? >> well, no, and in fact the inspector general's report confirms that the decision to impose this drilling moratorium was based on manipulated data by the administration. so if they're going to say it was either incompetence or manipulation, neither of those are acceptable answers for a decision that has cost over 12,000 peo

he has traveled all over the gulf with us.if there is an indispensable team member here, a lot of the people are team to do with sean and i and sent to do, but nobody could do what richard has been. we thank you for the. i will miss him. i hate to say that but i will miss him. >> you haven't seen the last of me. [laughter] >> so what we will do is now, we're going to go over, we have cold of these down and again, you know that they come from all of our discussions. one of our jobs is to just look at a spectrum of things to get the advice of everything we know. so let's turn to number one. individuals should be trained to repeatedly question data, raise concerns, and doublecheck assumptions. so, richard, can you sort of pull forth that, summarized the discussion with that and give us some examples? >> i will do that. that he start by saying that as we go through these examples and conclusions, i'm going to be pulling together danger for the last two days, my own experience and ideas, comments from other members. it's going to b

oil spill in the gulf of mexico and of course that has affected not just the environment in a very gulf but also the the so-called loop current one of the intrinsic parts of the gulf stream of course the loop current is a warm weather condition which supplies warm weather to the eastern coast of the united states and of course some scientists are saying that that has been heavily damaged by the b.p. oil spill and the velocity of the current has lessened significantly and that of course is it may also impact the gulf stream when it is impacted of course notable changes in temperatures not just on the eastern coast of the united states a but in europe will be noticed as well. more stories on our website that's called a quick preview. of whether you. are supposed. to trust. the georgians news if we have a lot of them so no. more news today violent games flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are today. in times of economic downturn those who promise equality for all are once more gaining ground the age old debate between soc

it was unwise and it is extremely harmful to the gulf coast. so i tried many things over the last several months to call attention to this matter. i called several hearings in louisiana, several hearings here in washington, sent several letters, setup several meetings. nothing seemed to get through to this administration about the catastrophe that they were causing along the gulf coast. so i put this hold on a nominee. it was in many ways potentially unprecedented. i didn't know that when i did it. i was told later it has never been done or hardly ever done that someone places a hold on a budget director, but i figured it would get their attention, and i think it has. i've had now three meetings in the last 24 hours with the secretary himself. we've talked through some of these issues in a way that i think we can make progress. in the last two weeks there have been six permits issued. i'm told that there will be additional permits issued in the coming week. the secretary is also committed to me that he, himself, will be in the gulf coast in lou

he has traveled all over the gulf with us.if there is an indispensable team member here, a lot of the people are team to do with sean and i and sent to do, but nobody could do what richard has been. wehank you for the. i will miss him. i hate to say that but i will miss him. >>ou haven't seen the last of me. [laughter] >> so what we will do is now, we're going to go over, we have cold of these down and again, you know that they come from all of our discussions. one of our jobs is to just look at a spectrum of things to get the advice of everything we know. so let's turn to number one. individuals should be trained to repeatedly question data, raise concerns, and doublecheck assumptions. so, richard, can you sort of pull forth that, summarized the discussion with that and give us some examples? >> i will do that. that he start by saying that as we go through these exaples d conclusions, i'm going to be pulling together danger for the last two days, my own experience and ideas, cmments from oher members. it's going to be a mix o

sama this is more toward the saudi, yemen region of the gulf.an is wearing a traditional yemeni dress from a mountain region. this is a traditional form of a tire -- attire. ♪ ♪ >> this is the last part of our show. this is the part of the show that features lebanon, jordan. she is wearing traditional garb from damascus. i do not know if you can tell but there is a lot of handstitched detail at the top. lena is wearing a traditional jordanian start out with handstitched work. these stars represent different countries. this dress is more of a jordanian style. this is a palestinian dress with hand importers from the top to bottom. -- embroidery from the top to bottom. this is all handstitched. could the other models join the girls on the floor? [applause] >> let's have another round of applause for the models. thank you for participating and showing not only the diversity of our culture and region. through our clothing, it says a lot about how diverse the arab people are. thank you all for coming out tonight. ♪ again, thank you to everyone who has

. >> crews will return home after spending five months working on the oil disaster in the gulf of mexico. the crew conducted oil skimming missions and helped direct operations between the delta and florida. the ship collected oil in the gulf, but before coming back, the cutter made a detour, helping the cruise ship stranded near baja, mexico. >> an east bay mom heading home from a shopping trip got the scare of her life when a crowbar fell from the bay bridge on to her car. she figured caltrans would cover the damage, but she was wrong. she saw a crowbar fall and land into her car. wedging itself into the grill of her mini cooper. it caused $1400 in damage, but the caltrans and construction company said they won't pay for it. >> i thought they would be relieved that nobody was hurt and wasn't filing any lawsuit or anything like that. they have been uncooperative. >> the construction company said it is not responsible because it wasn't working on the bridge that night. meantime, caltrans won't say where why it denies the claim, but it can pursue legal action. >>> this is the second time c

we think it reduces safety in the gulf, and don't atrib ooh the moratorium to us because we disagreentil the administration backed off. but if the scientists wouldn't have come out and said this wasn't their conclusion in the first place, would the administration have come clean and in fact that's one of the big questions we have. >> a number of scientists interviewed in the wake of all this have said they don't believe that was intentional, that salazar apologized to them, made a public statement, salazar has met with a number of them individually, and that they are convinced that it was not intentional. >> well, and i appreciate that they're going to take the administration at their word, but it's not our job to take the administration at their word when there are real documents out there they haven't released yet. there was a memorandum that went from secretary salazar to the president when he was trying to get the president to conclude that there should be a moratorium. now, did that recommendation from the secretary include or attribute this request for a moratorium to the scien