“Officials: “Trillions of becquerels of radioactive material still flowing into sea” at Fukushima — Map shows nuclear waste coming up from bottom of ocean far offshore — Japan TV Journalist: “Contaminated seawater will circulate around globe… disaster like a huge cloth expanding everyday” [3]

“The company plead guilty to 11 counts of felony manslaughter, two misdemeanors, and one felony count of lying to Congress, and agreed to pay more than $4.5 billion in fines and penalties, the largest criminal resolution in US history.” [5]

“1.8 million gallons of Corexit oil dispersant were used in the cleanup response, becoming the largest application of such chemicals in US history.” [7]

“But despite being ground zero for past disasters and future threats in the Gulf Coast, the UHN [United Houma Nation] has had difficulty accessing relief and recovery funds due to its lack of federal recognition. For example, following the BP disaster the tribe requested funding from BP for a case manager to assist members with their claims, but that request was denied due to the tribe's lack of status. That denial echoed the tribe's post-Hurricane Katrina experience when it didn't receive a single recovery grant from the federal government, again due to its lack of formal recognition.” [8]

“They acted largely as billboards and megaphones for the administration, echoing and parroting whatever drivel came out of Washington, and added martial music and sexy graphics to make it sound and look better.” [9]

“An oil well cementing expert told a federal judge … that BP should not have proceeded with the cement job the day before the ill-fated Macondo well blew out, despite knowing the hazards involved.” [10]

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“Halliburton officials knew weeks before the fatal explosion of the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the bottom of the well was unstable but still went ahead with the job, the presidential commission investigating the accident said...” [11]

“The warnings were stark and issued repeatedly as far back as 1972: If the cooling systems ever failed at a “Mark 1” nuclear reactor, the primary containment vessel surrounding the reactor would probably burst as the fuel rods inside overheated. Dangerous radiation would spew into the environment.” [13]

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“G.E. began making the Mark 1 boiling-water reactors in the 1960s, marketing them as cheaper and easier to build — in part because they used a comparatively smaller and less expensive containment structure. American regulators began identifying weaknesses very early on.” [14]

“2 weeks after the Fukushima accident, we reported that the government responded to the nuclear accident by trying to raise acceptable radiation levels and pretending that radiation is good for us.” [16]

“EPA officials, however, refused to answer questions or make staff members available to explain the exact location and number of monitors, or the levels of radiation, if any, being recorded at existing monitors in California. Margot Perez-Sullivan, a spokeswoman at the EPA's regional headquarters in San Francisco, said the agency's written statement would stand on its own.

Critics said the public needs more information.” [19]

“The failure of the American, Canadian and other governments to test for and share results is making it difficult to hold an open scientific debate about what is happening.

“Earlier this year, the acting EPA director signed a revised version of the EPA’s Protective Action Guide for radiological incidents, which radically relaxing the safety guidelines agencies follow in the wake of a nuclear-reactor meltdown or other unexpected release of radiation.  EPA whistleblowers called it 'a public health policy only Dr. Strangelove could embrace.'” [20]

“Five months before the Animas River toxic spill disaster, leaders from the tiny Colorado mining town of Silverton pleaded with EPA officials to not perform tests that would declare the area a Superfund site.

“Yet the Environmental Protection Agency was intent on ferreting out 'widespread soil contamination' from historic mines, even though the town was tested five years ago and no problems were found...

“On Aug. 5, an EPA crew breached a debris dam at the old Gold King Mine, and 3 million gallons of water containing lead and arsenic flowed into the Animas River. The poisons turned the water bright orange and have since flowed into Utah and New Mexico, creating an epic disaster affecting farmers, towns and the Navajo Nation, which rely on the water...

“One geologist thinks the EPA created the mess to give itself another Superfund site to work on.

“Five days before the breach, the Silverton Standard ran a letter to the editor from a person identified as Dave Taylor, who said he had 47 years’ experience as a professional geologist.

“The technical letter describes how the EPA will create a scenario where 'the water will find a way out and exfiltrate uncontrollably through connected abandoned shafts, drifts, raises, fractures…contamination may actually increase due to the disturbance and flushing action within the workings.'

“Taylor accused the EPA of creating the mess to get 'a foot in the door to justify its hidden agenda for construction of a treatment plant.'

“Taylor wasn’t too far off. When asked in the town meeting whether the EPA wanted to declare the area a Superfund site, EPA project manager Paula Schmittdiel said, 'That’s still a point of discussion.'” [21]

“The tragic accident occurred as contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were working to plug Gold King, which had been leaking acid mine drainage into the river system for years.

“When the power plants first poisoned the air, water and land of the Four Corners region, the United States declared the Four Corners region -- including this area of the Navajo Nation -- is a 'sacrifice zone.' This is because the electricity produced here is for distant US cities. Power plants, and the dirty coal mining it depends on, use lots of water.” [25]

“Farmers in Shiprock [Navajo Nation aka Arizona] say the tankers arriving with desperately needed hydration for their crops contained water that smelled like petroleum, was visibly discolored and had an odd sheen to it... The deliveries were intended to help crops that are wilting in the sun after the spill at the Gold King Mine in Colorado on Aug. 5 contaminated the San Juan River downstream. Ben halted the distribution of the emergency replacement water. 'The EPA has begun to study this water,” he said. “In the meantime, our plants are dying.' … 'The farmers are outraged,' [Farm Board Representative Joe] Ben Jr. said, and they have yet to receive one clean gallon from the EPA, which took responsibility for the Animas River spill. … Ben said farmers are planning a demonstration.” [26]

“Navajos at Shiprock heart-wrenching vote not to irrigate with contaminated river water”

“Famed Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, known for having put Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on trial for genocide in 1998, has reportedly "set his sights on widening the definition of international law to target corporations that carry out economic or environmental crimes," the Guardian reported... Next month, according to the Guardian, he and other leading human rights activists, judges, and academics from a dozen countries will come together at a conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina to push forward the idea that economic and environmental crimes be considered crimes against humanity, akin to torture or genocide.” [28]