Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

Ahh that explains alot... so you can't do more then one thing at once.... well you could start off easy with something like walking and chewing gum as the same time, but do what you want.

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

*Takes notes* "Walk and chew gum...".

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

<font color=plum>Rolling Stones has an interesting article on the oil spill. It's rather long, but gives a comprehensive account of events surrounding the disaster.

The Spill, The Scandal and the President</font>

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

It's an interesting story and account, but I feel that people are still putting too much blame on the side of the government. BP is solely responsible for this catastrophe. This isn't Obamas fault, it certainly isn't Bush's (I find it incredibly dumbfounding as to why that even gets hinted at in the article), it is BP who fucked up. Certainly there was a failure from the regulatory aspect, but fundementally BP wasn't doing what they were supposed to be doing from the get-go.

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

On a side note, here is an editorial I submitted to my local newspaper.

Oil Spill a Time for Reflection

The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf Coast is a catastrophe by any standard. The temporary moratorium placed on offshore drilling in the U.S. as a result of this spill has irritated some, but in retrospect, is the right decision. With this moratorium in place and this environmental disaster, I am hoping that our country as a whole seriously stops to reflect on our current energy situation.

The United States peaked in its oil production in 1970; at this time, the U.S. produced roughly 9.5 million barrels per day. Today, the U.S. produces around 5.0 million barrels per day. This drop is not due to any political based decision; it simply is due to the natural geologic decline of U.S. oil fields. Barring some extreme scenario of territorial expansion, it is impossible to ever reach those early production levels.

Energy is the lifeblood of all economies. Our great economic success and output in the world is due to applying more energy into the economic system. This energy has primarily been in the form of oil, therefore in order to maintain economic growth, we need to increasingly add energy (oil!) into the system.

The political question then becomes, "do we use our oil or do we rely on other countries for oil?" We're all aware of the ramifications of being reliant on foreign oil inputs. For this reason, part of Obama's energy independence strategy has been to rely on our offshore fields to supplement our production. This is the start of many serious decisions and policies that need to be addressed within our country.

The Deepwater Horizon spill occurred in one of the most ecologically productive systems in the U.S. The whole of this coastal/estuarine ecosystem contributes to a staggering amount of our species. There are obvious benefits we have received from these ecosystems, such as tourism revenues, fishing based economies, etc. Hidden more indirectly however are ecosystem processes which humans directly benefit from. More subtle benefits such as nitrogen fixation, waste treatment, nutrient cycling, and soil formation are crucial components that humans use, but take for granted. An analysis at valuing these ecosystem services estimated that at a minimum, coastal and estuarine ecosystems contribute approximately $26,000 per hectare each year. Wetlands, also affected by this oil spill, are worth approximately $15,000 per hectare each year. When examining how many hectares this spill can potentially affect, the costs can quickly multiply to millions of dollars of ecosystem services lost per year.

With this moratorium in place, I am hoping that our country can truly start to reflect on our current situation. Should we drill in such ecologically sensitive and valuable areas? What chance of failure can be deemed acceptable, and are the ramifications acceptable? As a country, we must collectively make these decisions, and accept the consequences. There are no easy answers or decisions to be made, but they do require all aspects to be thoroughly examined.

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

You know, BP had 2 prior spills that provided earlier opportunities to have this moment of realization. Oh, cleanup for those 2 spills is also still ongoing.

You've read about what happened to the MMS under Bush. Literally sharing hookers & blow with the mining companies they were supposed to regulate.

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

Man, they grilled that BP CEO today, anyone watch it? He came off as one of the stupidest people on the planet - one congressman even joked that the only question he answered was whether or not "today is Thursday".

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

<font color=plum>And Obama made almost no changes when he took over.</font>

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

To be fair, he's a businessman and not a politician. I don't exect any CEO in these circumstances to be able to deal with our clowngress.

I'm not trying to defend the actions of BP here, I think they fucked up big time. I'm not pleased with the long-term magnitude of this situation. It's really bad. But I think a lot of people are missing the bigger picture. Our wonderful media certainly has done so, but I expected so.

We have a large number of Americans becoming a massively angry force. The entire body of lawmakers and policy deciders of our government are trying to get their 15 minutes of fame by attacking this CEO and feeding on public feeling for their own self-interest. The country is slowly turning this into some sort of political firestorm and having it devolve into partisan politics. It's turning into a giant circus, like every major news story. I'm thoroughly disgusted at what I see transpiring.

While all these shenanigins are going on, here is what I see. I see an oil spill that is foreshadowing of larger, more worrying concerns. BP was certainly cutting corners somewhere, which lead to this mega disaster, or at least that is what I've heard early on when this happened (I don't know if anything has been "proven" yet). Why were they cutting corners? Sure greed and profit had a large role in this. But a lot of profits go back into reinvestments in the company to fund future drilling. Oil extraction isn't as profitable as people think it is, and the margins are getting slimmer and slimmer. Why are they getting slimmer; because we are increasingly relying on deepwater, offshore drilling to get our oil. Why is this so? Is it perhaps because we've used up most of the easy to get oil? Hmm...

This spill is reflective of so many looming problems and societal questions that need to be raised and addressed. Of all the things to be discussing and arguing about, everyone is focused on some of the more trivial (and quite frankly, stupid) aspects.

Re: Giant Plumes of Oil... A way to clean those up?
 

Wow. Further proof that today's politics have polarized so much that Republican politicians really are little more than stereotypical comic book villains now.