200,000 Gallons A Day

[wombat2u2004]

Leave my dog out of this!

Only if i can leave my pet Wombat out of it

[blue]

Only if i can leave my pet Wombat out of it

Seriously, my dog may be a dang left leaning hippy but there is no need to drag him into this.

[wombat2u2004]

Don't worry Blue....I wouldn't even think about it.

[cassiesmom]

I saw a report on the late news last night (Chris Sowers on Fox Chicago) of what might happen with storm season approaching and the mass of oil floating in the Gulf. The bad scenario is that it could be picked up and carried into the water supplies of nearby states, affecting even more water, wildlife, fish, plants, etc. The very bad scenario is that it could be scooped up in micro-droplets, carried along by a strong storm (like a tornado) and be rained back to earth. Yuck and double yuck. But the government is trying to figure out why this happened instead of trying to get it cleaned up.

[Grace]

Another piece by Bob Herbert.

[lizbud]

Another piece by Bob Herbert.

Thanks Grace, good article. You know, sometimes you just have to
laugh, or go crazy. I think I'll go with the laugh for now.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/i...ing-judge-judy

[cassiesmom]

Editorial from today's Chicago Tribune entitled "In Too Deep"

It has been more than a month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, uncapping a geyser of trouble. Anger and frustration over BP's futile efforts to stop this mushrooming spill is growing almost as fast as the slick itself. Thick reefs of oil are washing up on the coast of Louisiana.

Every day brings new and disturbing revelations about how BP, its partners, the U.S. government — everyone who had a role in preventing or stopping such an accident — failed.

BP is trying to shift blame for the explosion onto rig owner Transocean Ltd. And the White House is trying to duck charges that it was slow to respond.

Over the weekend, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar scrambled to the region and said there was "no question that BP is throwing everything at the problem to try to resolve it because this is an existential crisis for one of the world's largest companies." But then he added: "Do I have confidence that they know exactly what they are doing? No, not completely."

Who could?

Ten days ago, BP chief executive Tony Hayward admitted that the company could have done more to prepare for such an accident.

The company is scrambling for solutions that no one had even thought to devise before this disaster. BP is expected to try on Wednesday to stop the gusher with a "top kill" — pushing heavy drilling fluids into the wellhead as a seal. That would be "another first for this technology at these water depths and so, we cannot take its success for granted," Hayward said. No kidding.

Salazar said the federal government would "push BP out of the way" if the company isn't up to the job. But that sounds like empty bravado. A top Coast Guard official shrugged when asked Monday about Salazar's threat. He said the government doesn't have the expertise to do a better job.

So we're stuck with BP.

What the government can do is demand that BP give completely transparent answers to some questions. For instance: BP hasn't come clean on how much oil is gushing from that well. Its earlier estimates of 5,000 barrels a day are laughably low.

The company has sprayed 600,000 gallons of chemicals to disperse the oil so far. But it is resisting a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demand to start spraying a less toxic chemical. That won't wash.

This much is clear: BP wasn't prepared. The government didn't make sure BP was prepared. And the government created a disincentive to operating safely. By law, BP's liability to fishermen, property owners and others hurt by the spill is capped at $75 million for all claims. BP has said it will ignore the cap and pay all appropriate claims. Congress is haggling over changing those limits.

Low liability caps encourage riskier drilling practices. They reduce the incentives for companies to spend more upfront to avoid accidents or make sure they have equipment on site to deal with them effectively.

After this, you can be sure that every company that drills in the gulf will look harder at the risks and rewards of deepwater drilling. They'll invest in better safety equipment to avoid spills, better methods to cap blowouts. They'll expect more effective government scrutiny. They'll be better prepared.

But they will drill for oil. You don't hear many people in the gulf — even those most affected by this disaster — say otherwise. Oil from offshore rigs accounts for about 30 percent of the nation's domestic oil production and is critical to the economy of gulf states. Every barrel produced here is a barrel that we don't have to import. The Obama administration recognized all that when it announced an expansion of offshore oil and gas development … three weeks before the explosion at Deepwater Horizon.

So keep the pressure on BP to seal the disastrous leak, of course. And let this lead to safer oil exploration, where companies know the cost of failure will fall squarely on them.