Day: June 9, 2010

Theriot and the Jefferson Parish Council versus the bloggers round 2. The gift that keeps on giving….

(H/T Little Sop and SupaSleuth)

It seems the gang still has not grasped how the internet gives power to the people. The bloggers aren’t in this video folks, it is just the pols trying to fool the public. ~ sop

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WihFGZsX3vI]

Let's leap without looking. Slabbed explores the genesis of the sand berm scheme.

Folks the more I find out the more this sand berm scheme of dealing with the oil spill stinks. Let’s backtrack to last month to the beginning of the scheme and the bums rush to get it crammed down the Corps of Engineer’s throats per this Chris Kirkham story for the Times Picayune:

For years, state government officials, scientists and coastal residents have made numerous pleas to the federal government for money to restore Louisiana’s barrier islands.

In the midst of a catastrophic oil spill, they may finally get their shot.

At a news conference in Venice this afternoon, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said they are already in discussions with BP and the Coast Guard to mobilize as many as 10 dredges to build up barrier islands in an attempt to prevent oil from getting into the state’s wetlands. Continue reading “Let's leap without looking. Slabbed explores the genesis of the sand berm scheme.”

Putting in the fix for River Birch and the landfill's diverse ownership: Theriot's long awaited contract evaluation scheme now staffed.

I had to laugh when I read Rich Rainey’s latest installment in as the landfill turns as he chronicles the completion of the scheme Theriot and his band of idiots on the Parish Council have hatched to put the fix in for River Birch via a controlled evaluation of a flawed contracting process.  Before we get to the latest on Theriot’s dog and pony show we should do a quick review of the River Birch saga to gain clarity on what the team will be reviewing.

The River Birch landfill, majority owned by the Ward family, almost had one of their own, Fred Heebe, installed as NOLA US Attorney by George Bush back in 2002. Heebe, Jim Ward’s step-son is a member of the ownership group of the landfill and is married to Jennifer Sneed, who left the Parish Council literally months before the Parish opened negotiations with the River Birch landfill to become the parish’s sole source for waste disposal.

These negotiations resulted from a request for proposals for the disposal of tree limbs and such by disgraced former Parish President Aaron Broussard. Broussard’s contract evaluation team included a number of former parish employees now under an active federal investigation and included former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson and former Parish CAO Tim Whitmer. That contract evaluation team expanded the scope of their charge to include proposals for all waste disposal, such services being provided the Parish by Waste Management under a long term contract using the Parish’s landfill. It turned out Whitmer was moonlighting as an insurance agent and besides selling insurance to the Parish itself he was also selling River Birch along with a multitude of other Parish venders.

Interim Parish President Steve Theriot cancelled several Parish contracts with companies that did the “pay to play” thang with Whitmer to great fanfare but left River Birch and their curious contract with the Parish alone despite the under handed way it was let. We later found out that Theriot was a protege of former Louisiana House Speaker turned Senator John Alario. Alario had some very curious connections to the landfill as a staffer of his garnered a 4% stake in the landfill in return for Alario killing his own bill to deprive River Birch of a needed state environmental permit back in the mid 90s. Continue reading “Putting in the fix for River Birch and the landfill's diverse ownership: Theriot's long awaited contract evaluation scheme now staffed.”

Sarah Palin joins Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant waxing nonsensical on the oil spill. Meantime BP will be showing up today before the Louisiana Legislature

Folks the only thing worse than these home-grown scheisters like Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant are the out-of-state ones. Make no mistake Sarah Palin is a fluffer, albeit one that has parlayed her good looks far better than Desiree Rogers. Sarah honey do us a favor and stick with babbling on Fox News as you are worse than useless trying to play politics with the environmental disaster here. The Times Picayune has the AP story:

“The current administration may be unaware that it’s the President’s duty, meeting on a CEO-to-CEO level with Hayward, to verify what BP reports,” wrote Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a potential presidential challenger in 2012. Continue reading “Sarah Palin joins Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant waxing nonsensical on the oil spill. Meantime BP will be showing up today before the Louisiana Legislature”

How about a plume and vessels of opportunity update courtesy of Captain Al

Folks IMHO the best information on the blowout and spill has been posted to blogs and message boards before they hit the professional media. I say this not to rip the professional media which collectively has done a great job reporting on the spill but see if you don’t agree as we visit with Captain Al and his post over at Rod n Reel:

Seems like since the Vessels of Opportunity set up by BP numerous captains have been confused on how and when they will go to work. Down in Venice for close to a month every time I turn around there are captains not happy and are forming petitions, protest etc.

I have worked four days since the start of the program myself and am confused on how something so simple seems to be so hard to get answers to. Continue reading “How about a plume and vessels of opportunity update courtesy of Captain Al”

Slicked and Slabbed the BP Disaster Part 5: BP COO Doug Suttles continue to lie about the underwater oil plumes

In the course of just over an hour, most of it spent on a question and answer session, the three men attempted to present a picture of a company under pressure, but with the financial and technical wherewithal to meet the immense challenges it faces.

At times evasive, sometimes disarmingly frank – quizzed about the personal toll events were taking, Mr Hayward stunned his audience by proclaiming “I’m a Brit, I can take it”……

Clearly conscious of the political storm surrounding the spill in the US, Mr Hayward said BP’s most important job over the long-term was to “regain the trust” of the American public.

Yep Tony Hayward sure can take it alright as in he can take the environmental disaster that is his company’s oil spill and spin it faster than State Farm did their criminal behavior here after Katrina.

Them Brits sure have a curious way of going about regaining the public trust. I think BP, Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant might just use the same PR firm. Here is why courtesy of the Huffington Post:

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles continues to insist that no massive underwater oil plumes in “large concentrations” have been detected from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading “Slicked and Slabbed the BP Disaster Part 5: BP COO Doug Suttles continue to lie about the underwater oil plumes”