The Oil Spill
The BP oil spill is going to redefine the Gulf Coast, in the kind of cataclismic way that 9/11 changed the course of the United States. Entire industries are going to be lost. Jobs are gone, maybe for a generation. And if BP and the EPA can't figure out a way to stop the leak, it may spread up the east coast. This map from the NYT shows where the oil is now, and the ocean currents.
There are many things at work here. Many things to blame. One, the depth. They are drilling at a mile deep, not, as the President said, because there isn't oil available at shallower depths, but because of the laws that ban drilling in shallower waters.
I don't know what's going to happen here. But something needs to happen, and soon. Hurricane season is going to make a fast, hot mess out of what's already an untenable situation. It's a horrible accident, and I hope that some engineer somewhere is even right now working feverishly to try and come up with a solution that will work. August seems like an awful long time from now. And there's really no guarentee they'll get the new pipes dug by then.
Louisianna just can't catch a break.
There are many things at work here. Many things to blame. One, the depth. They are drilling at a mile deep, not, as the President said, because there isn't oil available at shallower depths, but because of the laws that ban drilling in shallower waters.
I don't know what's going to happen here. But something needs to happen, and soon. Hurricane season is going to make a fast, hot mess out of what's already an untenable situation. It's a horrible accident, and I hope that some engineer somewhere is even right now working feverishly to try and come up with a solution that will work. August seems like an awful long time from now. And there's really no guarentee they'll get the new pipes dug by then.
Louisianna just can't catch a break.
Comments