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Tip of the Day
When given the choice, take the stairs instead of the elevator to save energy and workout at the same time!
Breaking: Gulf leak worst US eco-disaster ever, may continue until August
photo by Deepwater Horizon Response (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
US President Barack Obama’s energy advisor Carol Browner has called the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico ‘the worst’ environmental disaster to ever hit the United States. Browner also warned that the leak might not be stopped before August.
The amount of oil leaking from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oilrig has now surpassed 1989′s Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.
From a BBC News report:
At least 20 million gallons have now spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, affecting more than 70 miles (110km) of Louisiana’s coastline in the worst oil disaster in US history.
Top kill has now officially failed, next in line is a method using robots called ‘slice and cap’. BP, who claims that it is being unfairly victimized, has so far spent $940m (£645m/€766) attempting to contain the oil leak.
by Graham Land
Additional resources:
BP, White House Oil Spill Blame Game Heats Up
Tags: August, BP, Deepwater Horizon, disaster, Gulf, history, leak, Mexico, oil, spill, US, worst
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As an economist and with a degree in agricultural engineering, I wrote to my two US Senators on May 2 warning and pleading that a huge effort bordering on the WPA of the 1930′s needed to be undertaken immediately to save the Gulf.The return reply was if anything totally lame, just a canned reply on Oil Energy policy. I sent them a commissioned EPA study on the use of humates and their beneficial use on oil spills. So here is my take:
1. No dispersants. Besides hiding the evidence it creates a greater dead zone throughout the Gulf.(BP did not want anyone to know how much oil was spilling simply because they will be fined by the gallon. The EPA was complacent in covering up this information.)
2. BP was drilling not for oil but for methanol hydrates which are simply natural gas in crystal form. Under high pressure and cold temperature these crystal, of which there are billions of cubic feet contained in the Tigress Reservoir, are concentrated at 160 times their volume at surface pressure (i.e. 14 psi). The effect of these crystal is once they reach 62 degrees F it’s like spraying aerosol can, they explode. The Russians, Germans and Japanese have been doing research on how to capture these crystal for economic use.
3. A flotilla of skimmers should be aligned port to starboard for 300 miles to collect leaked surface oil (no dispersants!). And I agree with the ex-CEO of Shell that five super tankers should be at the leak site sucking up oil and water from down deep, to be later separated.
These are the answers. This will save the Gulf. Other than this we are looking at not only a cesspool ecological disaster, but a national, if not world wide economical disaster (millions of acres of deflated property value, a stock market crash, municipalities collapsing from a dried up tax base, unemployment to 20% or more, youth without a future. Will we come to our senses before it’s too late.