[graffiti in Chicago shows the Northern Gannet, enshrined as the first oiled bird recovered by BP]
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and sank on April 20, 2010 and has since spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is an absolute enigma. Even after following this story for the 4+ weeks since it surfaced, I have yet to find anyone who can speak with certainty about this spill, or its fallout.
How much oil is actually leaking? What are the real costs of this disaster, and what are the real costs of the fossil fuels we consume? What does it mean for the future of the US’s energy policy? What are the policy implications of elected officials in Florida and Louisiana saying they no longer support off-shore drilling? Will there be a calcified “drill, baby, drill” cult, unmoved by this catastrophe?
Most importantly though – how will we ever wean ourselves off oil if our politicians, leaders of industry, government, and citizenry stomach this spill?
Yet, there remains good (?) news on the horizon.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is keeping the pressure on BP to clean up their mess, saying in response to BP’s elated statements that an attempt to stem the flow of oil out of the gushing well is (finally) working, that the technique is “not a solution to the problem and it is not yet clear how successful it may be…we will not rest until BP permanently seals the well head, the spill is cleaned up, and the communities and natural resources of the Gulf Coast are restored and made whole.”
That is it for the (somewhat) good news. Here is yet the bad news:
Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said they had detected the slicks lurking just beneath the surface of the sea and at depths of 4,000ft (1,200m).
Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia, said: “It could take years, possibly decades, for the system to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s impossible to fathom the impact.”
Chemical dispersants BP has been dumping underwater may be preventing the oil from rising to the top of the ocean, the scientists said.
The find suggests the scale of the potential environmental disaster is much worse than previously feared…Some scientists cast doubt on BP’s estimate of the oil flow rate, saying the widely repeated figure of 5,000 barrels per day dramatically understates the real amount.
…Mississippi has become the third US state to have traces of oil wash up on its coast, along with Louisiana and Alabama.The spill is threatening to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez leak off Alaska as America’s worst environmental disaster. (BBC 5/17/10) [emphasis added]
Welcome to the 21st century, I suppose.
