Atlantic coast now under threat as current spreads Gulf oil slick

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Guardian

There was mounting evidence tonight that the scale of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has grown beyond all the initial worst-case scenarios, as thousands of gallons of oil continued to gush from the sea floor.

In Key West, coastguard officials said about three tar balls an hour were washing up on the beaches at a state park at the southernmost point of the Florida Keys.

Such evidence suggests the damage wreaked by the spill – which began with an explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April – could now grow larger, with crude oil caught up in the powerful loop current that travels a much wider course through the Gulf and up the Atlantic coast. In response to the tar sightings, Washington doubled the no-fishing zone to 19% of the waters in the Gulf.

The Obama administration admitted today it had underestimated the risks of offshore drilling. In a highly charged hearing in the Senate, Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, conceded failures in oversight by the agency responsible for policing offshore drilling. "We need to clean up that house," he told the energy and natural resources committee.

snip>

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/18/oil-spill-threatens-atlantic-coast

[Lerkfish]

1. "underestimated the risks of offshore drilling"? Really?

more accurately, they chose to ignore the obvious risks in favor of placating Big Oil.

Its not like the risks were an unknown quantity.

[DURHAM D]

2. amen nt

[lonestarnot]

15. No shit!

[saigon68]

20. Nice Work BP

[AlbertCat]

3. I suppose it will be hitting the NC coast about the time Summer is booming!

It's that great!

At least we can still drive to the mountains! :eyes:

[Earth_First]

4. For now anyways...

I'm sure the coal industry is froathing at the mouth to throw oil under the bus in favor of "safer" mining operations...

[Karenina]

7. Oh yeah, that "clean coal" thang...

:eyes:

[KoKo]

6. Well....you can always pick your way over the tarballs and goo...

but if you're a fisherman it might not be very enjoyable this year. :-(

[intheflow]

9. No, they'll have to close the beaches.

Tarballs and other crude goo are highly toxic not to mention gross to look at. No way the tourism bureau if going to have photos of sun bathing tourists juxtaposed with toxic goo-balls.

[mnhtnbb]

12. We have a beach house at Emerald Isle for Memorial Day weekend and the week after.

I hope the gunk won't be there.

[amandabeech]

19. Get on the plane to Grand Rapids or Traverse City, Michigan.

The lake is gorgeous, Michigan needs your money, and there's no drilling.

You won't regret it.

[KoKo]

5. A credible poster over at Weather Underground said St. Simons Island, SC had

tar balls washing up for three years after the IXION Oil Leak. He expects this one to be worse.

So...Southeast Coast better be wary if anyone has a vacation scheduled there in the coming months.

[lib2DaBone]

8. Everyone is pointing fingers.. but who is trying to stop the leak?

It doesnt seem as if the Federal Government or BP are aware of the magnitude of this disaster.....?

They are all pointing fingers.. but why hasn't the U.S. Navy and top-level Scientists been called in?

Does anyone is Washington Realize what is going on here?

[Doctor_J]

11. Fed & BP unaware of the magnitude?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Stop it, you're killing me.

[AlbertCat]

13. but who is trying to stop the leak?

No one. They are, however, trying to get as much oil out of it as possible into a tanker instead of just plugging the thing.

[DURHAM D]

22. not true

[fascisthunter]

10. the Florida keys are beautiful

not sure what the damage will be inevitably, but it's not looking good at all...

[Devil_Fish]

14. In a few months you'll be saying "The Florida Keys were beautiful"

The Caribbean was beautiful in 2010 until the Oil Spill.

Indeed in the future when writing about the deep water horizon, it will be referred to simply as "the oil spill" there will be no need to label it any further because ever one will know what is being written about. Much the same way that some one in the San Francisco Bay Area knows that when some one says "I'm going to the City" they mean "I'm going to San Francisco"

I am so sad.

A few days ago I told my wife how grossly underestimated the 200k gal per day is. She looked at me and said "This is it isn't it? We have finally killed the planet beyond repair, haven't we?"

I looked at her and said grimly: "Yes. The Ocean is the life blood of the planet. This poison will kill the entire gulf of Mexico, then get into the gulf stream and kill the Atlantic..."

Thanks BP and capitalism for our next Global extinction event. Here all this time I thought it would be the Yellow Stone Super Volcano, but I was wrong. I was right about one thing though, I always thought that if Yellow Stone didn't blow it would be our own stupidity and greed.

And now like a murder/suicide we are not content to simply kill our selves but we have to take virtually every other spices with us. Truly we have given this planet to the insects now. Only the roaches will survive.

How sad, and all for what? Not even paper money, just a fucking number stored in a computer some ware. We killed our planet for a piece of data.

[lonestarnot]

16. Bye bye to that. You can thank the drill baby drillers for their contribution to the death in the

dead zones.

[Baclava]

17. It's getting sucked south by the loop current

http://ocg6.marine.usf.edu/~liu/Drifters/latest_roms.htm


First storm that comes by will splatter it everywhere though

[daughter of liberty2]

18. Oh my god.

All the beautiful places along the Gulf coast...gone. :cry: I worry for the folks down there with health problems because I've heard that the smell of chemicals and oil is everywhere and causing burning eyes, throats and many other symptoms.

[lunatica]

21. Underestimated the risk of offshore drilling?!

How many ecological disasters and signs of growing global catastrophe have to happen before so called intelligent people see the truth? Silent Spring, the seminal book opening the world's eyes to the ecological poisoning of DDT and other chemicals was written in 1962 and governments have virtually ignored the worsening condition of the planets ecosystems. Yet they make things worse by using a substance that is actually banned already in the UK to dispel the oil. Corexit. They let the oil company decide what to do.

(snip from the article above)
authorities were relying heavily on Corexit, a chemical banned in the UK because of its effects on limpets and other sea life.

"There has been a real reliance on them, maybe more than anybody thought would ever happen," she told the Senate environment and public works committee.

The mounting evidence forced administration officials to admit for the first time yesterday that they had underestimated the risks of offshore drilling.

In two highly charged hearings in the Senate, Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, conceded there had been failures in oversight by the agency responsible for policing offshore drilling. "We need to clean up that house," he said.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), the regulatory body for offshore drilling, was notorious in the George Bush era for sex-and-cocaine fuelled parties in Colorado.

************

But like Condi and her infamous "Who could have predicted they would use planes to fly into buildings?" as her lying eyebrows climbed higher and higher up her forehead to make her look small, vulnerable and innocent they now come up with "We need to clean up that house."


edited for spelling and to add more

[HCE SuiGeneris]

23. Source: British News. Umm, do we have ANY real media left here in the U.S.? n/t

[GeorgeGist]

24. Lowballing the cost of offshore drlling is NOT "underestimating the risk" ...

it is Greediness.

America's "Core Values" should hold Mr. Obama et al accountable.

:sarcasm: intended

[bullwinkle428]

25. Just release some more oil-eating bacteria!!

:sarcasm: