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Huge Underwater Oil Plumes Found in Gulf of Mexico
ROBERT, La. - Scientists have found huge plumes of oil lurking under the surface of the water in the Gulf of Mexico, as BP hit a snag in its latest effort to slow down the oil blasting out of a broken undersea pipe.
FILE - This image from a video released by BP PLC shows oil and gas spewing from a yellowish, broken pipe 5,000 feet below the surface. The video released Wednesday May 12, 2010 gives a not-yet-seen glimpse of the leaking well a mile underwater.(AP Photo/BP PLC, File) At least 210,000 gallons of oil a day has gushed into the Gulf of Mexico since an oil rig exploded April 20 and sank two days later. Eleven people were killed in the blast.
BP PLC is trying to use a mile-long pipe to capture the oil flowing into the Gulf, but engineers on Saturday failed to connect two pieces of equipment a mile below the water's surface. BP PLC chief operating officer Doug Suttles said one piece of equipment, called the framework, had to be brought to the surface and adjusted to fit with the long tube that connects to a tanker above.
The framework holds a pipe and stopper, and engineers piloting submarine robots will try to use it to plug the massive leak and send the crude through the pipe to the surface.
"The frame shifted, so they were unable to make that connection," said Suttles, who believes the adjustments will work.
If the tube works, it would be the first time the company has been able to capture any of the oil before it fouls the Gulf waters.
Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology, meanwhile, say they have detected large oil plumes from just beneath the surface of the sea to more than 4,000 feet deep.
Three or four large plumes have been found, at least one that is 10 miles long and a mile wide, said Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia.
Researchers Vernon Asper and Arne Dierks said in Web posts that the plumes were "perhaps due to the deep injection of dispersants which BP has stated that they are conducting."
These researchers were also testing the effects of large amounts of subsea oil on oxygen levels in the water. The oil can deplete oxygen in the water, harming plankton and other tiny creatures that serve as food for a wide variety of sea critters.
Oxygen levels in some areas have dropped 30 percent, and should continue to drop, Joye said.
"It could take years, possibly decades, for the system to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas," Joye said. "We've never seen anything like this before. It's impossible to fathom the impact."
Joye's lab was waiting for the research boat to return so a team of scientists can test about 75 water samples and 100 sediment samples gathered during the voyage. Researchers plan to go back out in about a month and sample the same areas to see if oil and oxygen levels have worsened.
One expert said BP's latest idea seems to have the best chance for success so far. Inserting a pipe into the oil gusher would be easy at the surface, said Ed Overton, a LSU professor of environmental studies. But using robots in 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) of water with oil rushing out of the pipe makes things much more difficult.
"It's something like threading the eye of a needle. But that can be tough to do up here. And you can imagine how hard it would be to do it down there with a robot," Overton said.
The tube could capture more than three-quarters of the leak. BP also must contend with a smaller leak that's farther away.
A week ago, the company tried to put a massive box over the main leak, but icelike crystals formed and BP scrapped that plan.
BP is also drilling a relief well that is considered the permanent solution to stopping the leak. It's about halfway done and still months away from being completed. The company also is still considering using a smaller containment dome known as a "top hat," as well as a "junk shot," in which golf balls and rubber would be inserted to try to clog the leak.
Meanwhile, BP began spraying undersea dispersants at that leak site and said the chemicals appear to have reduced the amount of surface oil.
This unprecedented use of chemical dispersants underwater, and the depth of the leak has created many unknowns regarding environmental impact, and researchers hurriedly worked to chart its effects.
Federal regulators on Friday approved the underwater use of the chemicals, which act like a detergent to break the oil into small globules and allow it to disperse more quickly into the water or air before it comes ashore.
The decision by the Environmental Protection Agency angered state officials and fishermen, who complained that regulators ignored their concerns about the effects on the environment and fish.
"The EPA is conducting a giant experiment with our most productive fisheries by approving the use of these powerful chemicals on a massive, unprecedented scale," John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said in a news release.
Louisiana Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine sent a letter to BP outlining similar concerns, but the company and the Coast Guard said several tests were done before approval was given.
"We didn't cross this threshold lightly," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said. "This is a tool that will be analyzed and monitored."
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, meanwhile, pressured BP to make clear whether the company would limit how much it will pay for clean up and compensation to those hurt by the spill.
In a letter to BP chief executive Tony Hayward, she noted that he and other executives have said they are taking full responsibility for cleaning up the spill and will pay what they call "legitimate" claims. Napolitano said the government believes this means BP will not limit its payments to a $75 million cap set by law for liability in some cases.
"The public has a right to a clear understanding of BP's commitment to redress all of the damage that has occurred or that will occur in the future as a result of the oil spill," Napolitano wrote.
On Friday, President Barack Obama assailed oil drillers and his own administration as he ordered extra scrutiny of drilling permits. He condemned the shifting of blame by oil executives and denounced a "cozy relationship" between the companies and the federal government.
Associated Press writers Janet McConnaughey near Fort Jackson; Jason Dearen in New Orleans; Erica Werner, Matthew Daly and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, and Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.
46 Comments so far
Show AllToo bad that there is nobody knowledgeable in fabric structures working to contain the spill.
By putting a large fabric tent directly on top of the pipe, and then using a 20 foot diameter
tube to go up the 5000 feet to fabric tanks floating at the surface, the oil could all be collected for pick up.
see: http://www.tentnology.com/tent-gallery/fabric-structures.aspx
Look at images #2, #3, & #8 to see a suitable structure.
" assailed oil drillers and his own administration" Gee Whiz, is this sort of "who me?" moment?
As the world tanks, it will be thanks for the memory, and we will begin to understand what "peak oil" is all about.
Without a lot of oil, even this communication would probably not be possible.
Hollywood is probably working on a disaster film right now. We know that Michael Moore has his documentary system going.
We may look back on this as another 9/11. Pogo lives.
Not 9/11.
The morning after Chernobyl perhaps.
Or Bhopal. All Faustian arrogance trying to dominate nature, not work with it. It is irresponsibility in pursuit of "easy" solutions and quick profits. Most of our finest minds are co-opted into these pursuits.
Joe
Or the Siberian taiga and tundra, where lakes of leaked oil abound...
capitalism is klling the planet
On Friday, President Barack Obama assailed oil drillers...
------------------
wsws.org has a great piece on Obama's phony anger.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/obam-m15.shtml
Why will it takes months to complete the well, if it is supposedly half finished in this amount of time?
The AP calles marine life "critters" and generally downplays the whole thing, in my opinion.
This is a very classified situation. That would seem apparant. I mean, what if 'terrorists' used this opportunity to ???? We all know this will be the reasoning here. But i think no one will see real footage of anything. Who knows if anyone even has.
One thing we know, is that we don't know.
And my questions here are not rhetorical, by the way. If someone will also explain what is mean by 'plumes of oil are lurking under the surface'....What the heck is a 'lurking' plume? I truly don't get it. Sounds like they are making it sound cute. What does this actually mean?
Thanks to anyone who can elucidate!
I'll take a stab at some answers. I can't really answer the question regarding why it will take two months to finish a second well if it's also described as "half finished." It could mean they've drilled half the distance, but it will take time to complete the well once they've drilled the distance. Somebody else might know better.
Yes, calling the Gulf ecosystem "critters" seems a deliberate way downplay the importance of this environmental event. It's so much easier than elucidating the fact that the organisms at risk are not just "critters" (which usually means animals like bunnies and squirrels), but everything from unicellular plants and animals all the way up the vast food web to top carnivores. Some of the links in the food web may be more or less critical. Certain life stages of some critical links may be more sensitive to toxicity. In fact, the uncertainty regarding what will become of the Gulf ecosystem is almost absolute.
Using dispersants underwater is clearly intended to limit the amount of oil that "shows up" on the surface, where we can all see it. The dispersants injected into the plume at depth prevent them from rising, so they're drifting off out of sight, out of mind. "Lurking" was a poor word choice, because it implies the menace is waiting to strike when, in fact, the plumes (underwater and on the surface) are causing untold harm NOW. The plumes are not lurking, they are killing as we write and speak.
The only thing I can say with certainty is don't trust anything said by the oil industry or the government. Whatever they say, be assured the reality is vastly worse.
Thank you so much, FastEddie.
I thought the "lurking plumes" were something they didn't know about til now. That they are coming from new sources.
I also wonder if the video is real. Seriously. Who would know what is happening there. It is no doubt considered a war zone. Highly classified.
I also think they are trying many bogus things to appear to be working on it. We no doubt don't know what they are serious about trying. That is my guess.
rita
A cap of $75 million is neither here nor there in comparison to the damage being done. The question now is whether a crime against humanity and the environment has been perpetrated. The excuse of the spill being a mere tragic accident is spurious at best and monstrously self denying at its worst. The facts are that the calculated risk taken by BP to cheapen what we value and rely on, was decided upon for the sake of the bottom line and profits, with all else relegated to the ranks of the insignificant. In the end however, instead of the noose they deserve around their necks, these criminal corporations and their abettors in government and Wall Street, will do just fine I'm sure. Then again what punishment is there that can equal the scope of this crime.
Between this oil catastrophe, Iraq and Af-Pak I find myself assailed by huge plumes of depression, a kicked-in-the-guts feeling that leaves me numb.
The Imperial overlords are destroying this country and pissing away its wealth, and in the process, are major contributors to the global collapse and catastrophe that is surely around the corner if we dont stop this insanity RIGHT NOW!
The toxic brew that is destroying this country - the mixture of fundamentalist capitalism,fundamentalist christianity, a militaristic worldview and this grotesque, arrogant attitude of American exceptionalism - has terminally poisoned the United States.
Transnational-corporate and state capitalism have poisoned the whole world.
And the materialist ego is poisoning the whole planet. We are at the Final Turning-point, Final Exam time for the human race, as decreed by the Cosmos: either get a grip on your existential insanity or perish from the earth like the dinosaurs.
I wish I could alleviate your depression, but I can't because I share it. What a shame and a strange irony that a self-aware species, aware of its own destruction, can do nothing to prevent its own destruction.
Yes, we're in a global extinction event, and most people don't know what that entails. Most, for some odd reason believe humans are exempt from ecological and evolutionary forces. All I'll say here is that, during an extinction event, species do not get to determine their fates.
Personally, I think the "final exam" was over decades ago, if not longer. Now we're being graded, and failing.
FastEddie, if i may get sort of Jungian here.....
I don't think humanity has an 'extinction event' within its collective memory. At least not one that is readily accessible. We simply have no innate reference points to being annihilated. So we simply can't comprehend us not being here, on planet 'earth'.
It is sort of like contemplating 'non being'. We truly can't. Not while we are 'being', anyway. ;-)
Of course, it makes so much sense, doesn't it? Because the way i see it, we are here to learn and evolve consciousness. Even by not 'learning', we are learning what happens when we don't 'learn'. It's just that the results are a lot harder to face. And the very basic nature of it is that we learn through repetition. That is why history, both individual and en masse, alway repeats itself. Not in detail but thematically.
My own sensing and experience is what i have to offer. We haven't faced the deepest cognitive dissonance within the human conditon. That is what would be our saving grace. What we do to another or to any living thing, we do to ourselves. The universal web. We 'see' it over and over again and always have.
I believe we are blocked with a very deep rooted assumption that in order to 'survive' we must be destructive. We simply take it for granted. Gotta kill. It is always an option. We need to realize that it is not an option. Ever. We need to get much more creative in our responses to life. And i totally believe that the potential is there. We haven't even tapped the surface of understanding what human beingness even means. We are still basically living with primitve assumptions from the past few thousand years. And along with that is,
An assumption that human nature can do no better. We are flawed sinners and killers and that is that. So why bother trying? These two beliefs work hand in hand. So humanity behaves this way and it becomes "self evident" and reinforces itself.
But now the velocity of the occurance of events has increased exponentially. It makes so much sense. And the world wide web has even created yet another metaphor regarding interconnection. And also allowed instant feedback loops.
Of course, psychic numbing plays into this as well. We are shell shocked and feel helpless. Which causes more and more denial and shut down. And then there are the medications that are so over used. Chemical defenses.
O.k. I will stop now. Because i could go on for hours on this topic.
peace,rita
There are reckoned to have been five previous global extinction event, the fifth being the one that ended the age of dinosaurs. So, you're right, there has not been a global extinction event during the existence of our species.
"Even by not learning we are learning..." I heard Garrison Keilor (sp?) on the radio yesterday doing a skit. An old geezer was trying to get him drunk, and he said he was just trying to exercise good judgement by refusing to drink. The old geezer retorts: "Everyone knows good judgement is based on experience, and the best judgement comes from experiences that are the direct result of bad judgement."
"An assumption that human nature can do no better." This is where Chris Hedges always falls down. Of course we can do better. It's a cruel irony that we don't.
I believe the count-down on our species began with the advent of agricultural societies; that the further we've alienated ourselves from the "practice of the wild," as Gary Snyder put it, the crazier and more destructive we've become.
You know, it's time for me to go for a walk in the woods. See ya later!
Me too, FastEddie! And
I don't know if you have seen it, but one of my posts on Chris Hedges has been that he does believe in the 'original sin' myth. Really. I asked him in person a few years ago, based on his lecture and writings. He was taken a bit aback. And said. "yes".
And it does color everything he writes.
rita
I didn't see your post on Hedges, but it makes sense to me. I read his book on the dire threat to world peace posed by the "new atheists" (image how that surprised an old atheist like me who doesn't want to kill anyone), and he uses the "original sin" concept to pin down the false premise that "moral progress is impossible." Of course, since his premise is false, the main argument of the entire book fails. Some people never break the spell.
[Even though this is way off-thread, I might as well put forth my argument as to why moral progress is possible. It requires that one understands the implications of evolution. Once there were no humans, and now there are. Similarly, once there was no human morality (because there were no humans), and now there is. Morality evolved. It can continue to evolve (or devolve, as it has been in the U.S. at least since Ronnie Raygun was prez). Seems to me it swings like a pendulum between progress and regress, but that does not mean it's fixed, or that we cannot reach yet higher levels. Slavery, once legal, is now against the law. That it still exists is not the failure of morality, but the failure to successfully police the slave trade. On the other hand, targeting foreign nationals with predator drones because they might have a hand in terrorism, or withholding habeus corpus rights, or warrentless wiretapping, or dropping insurance coverage for sick people, or letting oil companies operate with no environmental oversight--these all show that we certainly can morally regress. If the only possiblity is to regress and never make progress, we'd all be in hell already!]
FastEddie, i have lots to say in response. And i agree with your summary at the end, and most all of your points.
We should discuss this further sometime. It is an important discussion, in my opinion.
Oh. I heard some talk earlier about the "plumes" ...It seems they are something new. It may be the result of the chemical corexit they have shoved into the deeper waters. It is changing the way the oil flows when it is gushing out. It is congealing and not dispersing. Hanging more in supspension is what i believe they were saying. I only caught pieces of it as i drove.
It makes sense though. My heart feels like it needs to vomit, actually.
I like the 'morality evolved' idea...
could it have been selectively 'bred'?
I still find it fascinating that murderers have so effectively indoctrinated their victims with the notion that murder is wrong...
taught them that, further, retaliation of any kind is not only wrong here and now, but, even worse, condemns one's soul to eternal fire...
the victims self-reinforce that message, even as they are murdered...accepting their own demise, comforted by the thought that their killer will suffer some just penalty in the afterworld...
could this morality have been intentionally planted and tended for continual harvest?
could a future morality include justifiable violence?
"We've never seen anything like this before. It's impossible to fathom the impact."
fathom: a unit of length equal to six feet.
4000/6=±666
"And you can imagine how hard it would be to do it down there with a robot"
No, we imagine the robots making the underseas job easy. Didn't they put a man on the moon? Underseas robots have been around for a long time. Submarines have been around for a long time. There have been lots of underseas activities in such vehicles. The Titanic for one.
Haven't these oil companies been raking in astronomical profits over the past ten years? At the snap of a finger these oil companies can have "state of the art" underwater operations handling the emergency. Instead they bungled it "big time". They didn't have a plan.
" On Friday President Barack Obama assailed oil drillers ". You have to know Obomba does not really mean it since he added that extra scrutiny of oil permits is needed. What a sell out and another con! If he really meant it, he would say something like this: JFK made a commitment to put a man on the moon in 10 years and now I am making a similar commitment to eliminate America's addiction to oil in the next 10 years. I pledge to you the American people, that almost all oil will be completely eliminated in the next 10 years and the way this will be done is that the trillions of $ spent on defense will now be spent on finding alternative sources of energy along with massive tax credits. What is needed is a war on our addiction to oil before it is too late, because that is the real enemy that is destroying America and the rest of the world.
"What is needed is a war on our addiction to oil..."
please - no!
think of the success of the War on Poverty.
and the War on Drugs.
Not to mention the need to get off the 'war grid' already!
Time to reframe.
VDB: I agree with you if it is not a REAL war. There never has been a REAL war on drugs or poverty because those so-called wars were perfunctory wars fought by the disingenuous,elite and sold to the sheeple. If our government would make the same commitment of $ and manpower that they are now making in Afghanistan,Iraq and the rest of the 700 to 1000 military bases around the world to our addiction to oil, then I believe you would see REAL change you could believe in, but alas, I have to admit the chances of that happening are nil unless millions of brainwashed, Americans wake up before it is too late.
There may be much more oil under the surface than on the surface due to fractioning of the oil as well as the use of disperants.
And from the start, all of the approved sources have underestimated the volume of oil and gas erupting from the Deep Horizon blowout.
A VOLCANO OF OIL ERUPTING
http://pesn.com/2010/05/13/9501651_a_volcano_of_oil_erupting/
excerpts:
"The fact that the spill has reached land clearly states that the size of the spill is probably well above 200,000 barrels per day. Yes, that's BARRELS, not gallons. There are 42 gallons per barrel.
What we are seeing now could be small compared to what may yet unfold if things break apart, as they can do under such circumstances. If this thing blew, it could be like the Yellowstone Caldera, except from below a mile of sea, with a 1/4-mile opening, with up to 150,000 psi of oil and natural gas behind it.
That would be an extinction event.
It is not likely to happen, but it is within the realm of possibilities.
That's the kind of stuff we're playing with here."
and:
"This is the first time humans have encountered a deep ocean leak of this magnitude. We're in uncharted territory here. Volume per volume, it is highly probable that due to this fractioning, this oil blowing into the ocean from a mile down is causing far more ecological trouble than a surface spill of similar size.
It is also certain that the slick volume on the surface is substantially lower than the rising column of oil. This is a key point to bear in mind. Because of this fractioning, what you see from the air on the surface of the water represents maybe just 20% of the volume of the various types of oil in that area. And we're talking an area the size of Maryland (10,000+ square miles) that is on the surface. The remaining 80% is under the surface; and all of it is highly toxic to the living organisms encountered."
"That would be an extinction event."
some claim it was a hole poked in the Gulf of Mexico by an asteroid which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
(others claim it was because they missed the Ark...)
""Federal regulators on Friday approved the underwater use of the chemicals, which act like a detergent to break the oil into small globules and allow it to disperse more quickly into the water or air before it comes ashore.""
*********
""Three or four large plumes have been found, at least one that is 10 miles long and a mile wide, said Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia.""
*********
It should be noted that at least one of those plumes is also about 300 feet thick which should add considerably to the volume of oil leaked and still leaking.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37171468/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/
And if this untried and untested dispersant is a cause or not to these plumes remaining deep underwater then at least bp is 'covering their ass' as the major bulk of the oil is 'out of sight and out of mind'. But then there is the effect this 'untested and untried' dispersant will actually have on this huge catastrophic disaster laboratory and with both those elements, oil and chemical dispersant, then the possibility that he gulf of mexico will be the biggest toxic waste dump on earth increases which making sure it doesn't come ashore mute compared to the consequences of leaving in the water.
I really feel for those 11 people who died at the expense of a corrupt organization such as bp and their families, but I rather think that compared to the looming disaster, I would think of stopping the leak and doing what cleanup can be done would be most important.
I just posted this at another article on this subject.
If anyone wants a couple of minutes of wit, google "The Front Fell Off" and see two Australian guys doing a faux interview about a major oil spill. I think it is from a few years ago.
They are evidently quite well known and do some brilliant work in this mode, on current events.
It might has well be a BP wire, a NOAA wire, a FOX news wire.
check out this article and prepare for a surge of rage
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/13/13greenwire-less-toxic-dispersants-lose-out-in-bp-oil-spil-81183.html
Your URL has been cut short, and cannot be followed. You are going to have to break it up somehow if we are to follow it. Those wish to follow your link will then have to re-assemble it. How about a short summary for those are reluctant to do that.
I do so wish CD permitted clickable HTML links.
The use of these chemicals from the beginning made absolutely no sense, even according to the rationale put forth that it was being done to save the wetlands.
The only defense against the wetlands, itself lame, is the use of surface oil barrier booms deployed around the inlets, islands, etc.
However, since the dispersants make the oil sink beneath the surface, of course the surface booms to hold surface oil back won't work.
CNN to their credit, nearly two weeks ago, when oil started reaching the barrier islands off of Louisiana, lowered a camera into the water which showed the surface water relatively clear, but several inches below, there was a thick orange cloud of oil/water goo which was moving under the booms. So on the surface, the booms held back a bit, but much more was flowing UNDER the booms.
Don't miss this article about how EPA has allowed BP to choose a much more toxic and less effective dispersant (not that any should be used), and how Corexit is surprise surprise manufactured by a company who has long ties with BP, and who has a former BP executive on its board.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/13/13greenwire-less-toxic-dispersants-lose-out-in-bp-oil-spil-81183.html
"I don't know if you have seen it, but one of my posts on Chris Hedges has been that he does believe in the 'original sin' myth. Really. I asked him in person a few years ago, based on his lecture and writings. He was taken a bit aback. And said. "yes".
Um..."Do you believe in the original sin MYTH?"
Hedges : "Yes." !
I would have thought Hedges would have replied : "it (the original sin 'myth') is not a myth."
Hard to think someone - anyone, really - would say he/she believed in what they accept (as above) is a myth.
salt cloud - just to clear it up.
I didn't ask Mr. Hedges, whom i happen to believe is an incredibly brilliant writer, "Do you believe in the original sin *myth*?" Nor did i, in fact write those very words on my earlier post.
I am the one who is using the term 'myth' in regards to 'original sin'. I asked if he believed in original sin.
But thank you for your close attention and vigilence. I just read it and can see that there could be some confusion. It didn't occur to me that it would be read that way.
That was an astute "catch." I, too, think Hedges can write like hell, which presents a problem when he's wrong about something.
FastEddie, a very 'astute' commentary...
The 'powerful elite' of the World (not merely some Americans, but including those of them who are powerful and elite) have their own method of 'saving Earth' - for themselves. Saving it from the 'rabble' who are spreading like a plague across the fair face of Earth. No more need for polluting the air, water and soil, when there are less than, say 80% of people than there are now. And those kept at that number. But this is not just 'my idea'.... Having read of it, and what is being planned (new world order) (one world government)..and less people.. it is a rational plan.
If any breathing things are going to continue to exist on Earth.
"Huge Underwater Oil Plumes Found In Gulf Of Mexico"
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Doesn't it make you wonder if there is any thing left of
sanity.
I thought it was lollypops they might find.
A: Not a "spill".
B: A blow-out caused by "standards" eased for BP.
C: The Gulf of Mexico (how ironic) will/is/ has become a dead
zone.
D: Your "corporate citizens" don't give a shit as long as
the dividend is in the mail-box.
E: It's obvious your "country" has no direction except these
bogus imperial wars.... which are breaking your ass...
Not the "ass" of your banks...yours.
F: This is your fault.
"On Friday, President Barack Obama assailed oil drillers and his own administration as he ordered extra scrutiny of drilling permits. He condemned the shifting of blame by oil executives and denounced a "cozy relationship" between the companies and the federal government."
Isn't this piece of shit "the President?" Didn't he get elected to do the peoples business?
This suit is responsible for this mess. He did not demand safe guards against blow outs.
Obama is responsible.
resposible?? Have u been paying attention to what's been going on the last 30+ years? BP is MORE powerful than the president. corporations own all industry and they own something better than politicians...they own the political system itself.
Obama has final say on very little. Blame him for that salazar nom sure...but to single him out when the whole system is to blame ...well thats a Palin smokescreen.
Obama does deserve his share but more than the likes of Bushco?
And here is news to all...our votes don't count for jack shit..all of that "do the people's business" is wishful thinking.
"A common spin in the right wing coverage of BP's oil spill is a gleeful suggestion that the gulf blowout is Obama's Katrina.
In truth, culpability for the disaster can more accurately be laid at the Bush Administration's doorstep. For eight years, George Bush's presidency infected the oil industry's oversight agency, the Minerals Management Service, with a septic culture of corruption from which it has yet to recover. Oil patch alumnae in the White House encouraged agency personnel to engineer weakened safeguards that directly contributed to the gulf catastrophe."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Huffington Post
interesting that the right-wing would even admit to a "Katrina".
We haven't seen anything yet.
Right Now, the Gulf Stream is probably carrying this toxic cloud by cuba, florida and the bahamas. It will no doubt foul the whole Atlantic all the way to Bermuda.
Maybe dispersal is worse. Dispersal is an Oil Industry Cover-up technique. At least with the EXXon Valdeze, we could see the oil on the beaches and we knew the sea food was unsafe.
This way, the billion dollar seafood industry will keep shipping their toxic catch unabated. What you can't see inside won't hurt you Mr. Customer.
Me? I've already warned my family in the states about this. This crap will take at least 20 years or more to settle into the sand, if ever. Crude sinks after a few years doesn't it? Not sure this crap will ever sink now that it's dispersed into little droplets.
YUK!!!!
TJ