Gulf oil spill

Today I finally managed to view the video feed of the oil leak and...well, I'm appalled. When I first started viewing it I seriously wanted to cry.

I cannot believe how much BP, Halliburton and Transocean just blamed each other at the congressional hearings instead of trying to figure out what to do. I cannot believe how much BP has tried to cover up the facts in terms of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf. I'm disgusted they tried to bribe Gulf residents to prevent them from suing the company. I'm disappointed in Obama and his administration in how they haven't done much outside slap BP on the wrist...this is definitely something where I STRONGLY disagree with Obama. At the very least he recently created a commission to investigate the causes and possible solutions, which is a step in the right direction. I've heard varying statistics about BP's daily profits, but apparently, what they make in a week in profits would be MORE than enough to cover cleanup costs several times over, yet there are laws that have a CAP on how much oil companies have to spend to clean up their messes, so taxpayers might have to foot the bill!

Additionally, Rush Limbaugh has said the Sierra Club and other non-profit environmental groups should pay for the cleanup, instead of BP; these are organizations providing unpaid volunteers to the Gulf to help cleanup, people who are motivated by nothing except their passion and care, and Limbaugh wants them to pay! Rand Paul has called Obama un-American for even criticizing BP over the spill and the horrendous environmental damage this has done and will keep doing. Fishermen and shrimpers are losing their jobs and most of these folks don't have the education to get another. Tar balls have washed up on Florida shores and other Gulf coast beaches, and now the oil has reached Louisiana marshes, home to some rare and unique species of plants, mammals, insects and birds. Those marshes may be ruined for years to come if enough oil reaches them, and I've seen pictures of marsh plants and birds covered in oil. With the approaching hurricane season, I've seen many news sources, including BBC, MSNBC, NPR, the Guardian and others talk about what might happen if a hurricane comes into the Gulf, and it's terrifying.

I seriously hope that this opens everyone's eyes and makes us all say "Enough oil. Enough 'drill baby drill.' It's time to change." If this falls into human memory as 'just another oil spill' after the Gulf ecosystem is entirely ruined for decades to come, I don't know what will open people's eyes to reality.

I don't think the major hold outs will ever give up on oil until it is no longer profitable for them to cling to it. Of course, it's hard for the profitability to end until someone lets go of oil and favors alternative energy. It's a big catch 22.

But anyway, I agree, the companies responsible for this spill should be also be required to contain and clean it. They made the mess, so it should be their responsibility to clean it up. Actually, they should have just done more to prevent it in the first place, but it seems none of them have learned that lesson from past spills.

The environmental damage is horrendous. I find it sickening...

Seems BP's "top kill" attempt to plug the leak has failed. With that, it seems likely that oil will be leaking at least until August when relief wells will be finished. I read in the Guardian this morning that they may be able to get a tube down there to siphon up some of the leaking crude, but most will still gush into the ocean. The BBC Global News podcast had some heartbreaking interviews this morning from people who live down there whose livelihoods are destroyed, and there's nothing they can do about it. I hope that these people, unlike the victims of Exxon Valdez, actually SEE some of their compensation from the company; I heard on the Rachel Maddow Show a few weeks back that victims of Exxon never saw their compensation from the company and grade schoolers on field trips to Prince William Sound can still find crude under rocks with little effort. And these are oil companies that make absolutely GROSS profits, and they can't give people whose lives they've destroyed compensation. At the end of his show, Keith Olbermann now counts the days since the Deepwater Horizon rig blew, instead of the days since the declaration of mission accomplished in Iraq, which he used to do.

At least there's this: Rush Limbaugh as the Sierra Club's top fundraiser! I think THIS is the best way to handle his absurd comments about environmental groups being responsible for the spill, and it's sort of amusing, too.

I can't help but think the Gulf ecosystem and people's livelihoods that they've had for generations are doomed for decades to come. And who knows once hurricane season is in full swing.

New link to the camera feed at the leak, since the other is dead: npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ... amp;f=1025

Yeah, Rush is definitely wrong on this one. BP is at fault and needs to clean up their mess. And the sad thing is that BP has actually made a windfall profit from this whole mess.

The Horizon Oil Rig and all of it's crew members were fully insured. All of the families of the people who lost thier lives when the rig exploded are being compensated by the insurance companies, not BP, as the people working on the rig were rtequired to have life insurance due to the constant threat of just such a tragedy occurring. And the oil rig itself was insured for something like fifty-seven million dollars. Under that stupid law that BP has declared it falls under they only are required to spend fifteen-million dollars on clean-up efforts. The only real damage taken by BP from this incident is a dent to their company's reputation.

Weather centers are predicting this coming hurricane season may be the most active in recorded history, so things really don't bode well at all for the gulf states.

Also, not being mentioned regarding this disaster yet is the loss of coastal land mass due to sinkage. Gulf coastal areas sink at a rate of about 2 inches per year from normal, controlled, oil well pumping. But now that there's an uncontrollable gusher at the bottom of the sea land sinkage before they, hopefully, get this under control could be several inches this year alone. Clearly the ramifications of enviromental impact from this will turn out to be exceedingly far worse than just raw crude oil coating coastal landscapes.

I'm not happy with how anyone is handling this situation, least of all the politicians. If BP wasn't so money grubbing they'd employee other oil companies to assist them in getting this situation under control. But instead we have to wait until August for them to move one of their oil rigs into position to create a relief well. And why you may ask? Simple, BP doesn't want to loose oil well rights to that area. It's all about money to these ignorant fools at BP. And to the politicians it's all about giving good lip service in a bid to get more votes come re-election time. The whole thing sickens me.

All well-said, Tweeg. I think this is one of the very few things you and I agree on.

I can't say I'm surprised the oil companies are playing the blame game instead of fixing this mess. Bureaucrats and business people alike are all the same really. I know I look forward to seeing what happens when the oil eventually runs out, besides the lack of such disasters, because I doubt it'll be much longer before this is the case. If not in our lifetime, then the next for sure.

One thing's for sure though, as already stated, the hurricane season's going to be a right mean one. :/

I heard on the radio the other day that it is now official and that this oil spill in the Gulf has over-eclipsed the Exon Valdez oil spill disaster of a few years ago. In other words, it's a heck of a lot worse than the other one was, and that one was a disaster.

I agree with all of you who said the oil companies should have taken measures to try and prevent this kind of thing from happening in the first place, and from ever happening again. I also agree that we need to find alternative sources for oil, etc. Up to now, I have been in favor of drilling for more oil, but I'm beginning to rethink that due to all these disasters. However, until a better way is found, as long as oil is needed and wanted, the drilling may continue.

Silver_Surfer1 wrote:

Up to now, I have been in favor of drilling for more oil, but I'm beginning to rethink that due to all these disasters. However, until a better way is found, as long as oil is needed and wanted, the drilling may continue.

Well, of course human beings have to keep drilling for a while. The United States, and the rest of the world, can't totally switch to alternative energy overnight, it's going to take years if not a few decades to get the infrastructure up for wind and solar, and until then, we need oil. But we have the technology now for widespread wind and solar energy, at least in this country and Europe already has a lot of it (and nuclear power), and in the coming years, I hope to see oil consumption in the US decreasing as wind/solar infrastructure is set up and used. But always remember, no matter where oil is drilled, it goes to the international market where anyone anywhere can buy it. So even if drilled in the US, another country can buy it from the company that drilled it. Politicians, when they support drilling in US territory, don't tell you that.

In the interim and during this switch I hope occurs, oil companies need to be forced to figure out how to drill as well as how to fix things when they go wrong, and I do NOT support offshore drilling. Because BP didn't have to have a plan in place if things went wrong, engineers and scientists basically have to improvise a solution. "Top kill" solutions have been tried in the past and failed, and a relief well won't be finished until August. Until then, oil will leak. We've had enough offshore oil disasters. With so much deregulation, oil companies haven't needed to figure out ways to plug leaks when things go wrong and we're seeing the results of that in the Gulf, and they aren't pretty. That, at least, has to change soon.

It seems people are thinking along environmental lines, though, as I found this article on the Sierra Club's twitter page. I take this as a sign that maybe, finally, Americans will support alternative energy and work up the political will to get off oil in the coming years.

Caged Wolf wrote:

no matter where oil is drilled, it goes to the international market where anyone anywhere can buy it. So even if drilled in the US, another country can buy it from the company that drilled it. Politicians, when they support drilling in US territory, don't tell you that.

I wasn't aware of that fact. I'll have to look into that more. It may definetely affect how I view all this. Interesting article, also. Thanks!