WTF: Massive Oil Spill Was No Big Deal?

So were we just dumbshits to get all upset over that ginormous oil spill in the Gulf?  Did the BP fairy godmother wave her magic wand and poof! make it all disappear like a big, greasy pumpkin?  Have we all just been big, screaming drama queens about this trifling little incident?

Your Head Trucker is no oceanographer or marine biologist, so he can't answer those questions.  But here's an excerpt from an article by the folks at Nature who quote some experts in those areas, so read and judge for yourself, fellas:

More scientists have come forward to criticize a US government report on the fate of the oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico during the recent Deepwater Horizon debacle.

Earlier this month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated that only 26% of the 4.9 million barrels that spewed from the BP well was “residual” in the Gulf. A number of scientists interviewed by Nature (see: Upbeat oil report questioned) and Science questioned the positive spin put on this report .

Now researchers from the respected Georgia Sea Grant programme have joined the fray. In their report they say that up to 79% of the oil from the spill remains.

“One major misconception is that oil that has dissolved into water is gone and, therefore, harmless,” says Charles Hopkinson, director of Georgia Sea Grant a researcher at thee University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences (press release).

“The oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade.”

The UGA report is available here.

And here's a CNN clip about what scientists at the University of South Florida in St. Pete have discovered:

Oil Slams Florida Coast

NASA satelite photo of the Gulf yesterday, click to enlarge for the breathtaking size of this spill:

A picture taken Wednesday on Pensacola Beach in Florida's westernmost county, where the sands are as white and as fine as granulated sugar:

The Pensacola News-Journal says the beach, which was closed but has now reopened, looks much better today now that clean-up crews have scooped most of the oil up with shovels.  But folks . . . this is just the beginning.  There's a shitload more where that came from. 

The PNJ quotes a local resident aghast at the scene:

"This is not just a body of water," she says angrily. "This is sacred. This is where we play as children. Where we learn to swim. Where we meet loved ones. Where we enjoy our grandchildren. Collect seashells, memories. Where the soul is replenished. This is sacred!"

FYI - according to InfoPlease, this is how many miles of coastline, general and tidal, are now imperiled:

Estimates of how much oil has leaked into the Gulf to date range as high as 6 million barrels, or a quarter of a billion gallons.  And counting.

The Exxon Valdez spill is estimated at 10 to 30 million gallons - far, far less.

Texas Republican Apologizes to BP

All I can say is, it figures.  Now of course, if W had done the exact same thing, this dipshit wouldn't have uttered a peep. 

From Texas, I apologize to the rest of the country for the asshole remarks of this deepwater creep and all my other benighted neighbors here.

Here's the President's announcement about the compensation fund:



And finally, here's Rachel's take on what Obama should have said during his address to the nation Tuesday night:

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Update: The Vice-President's remarks on shithead Rep. Barton's comments:

Oil Spill Hits Florida Beaches

It makes me ill to think of what all that oil will do to Florida's beautiful sugar-white sand beaches and turquoise waters.  At one time I used to live just 15 minutes from the Gulf down that way - so it feels personal to me.



What's about to be lost:

Photo:  visitpensacolabeach.com

"A Gaping, Unstanched Wound in the Planet"

NASA satellite imagery confirms the slick reached the edge of the Loop Current of the Gulf Stream a week ago, May 18; this is the latest satellite view I've been able to find today.

Oil-coated egret on Grand Isle, Louisiana, May 20.

Photo by U.S. Coast Guard.

Sullivan:

I have to say I have struggled with how to blog about this. In many ways, it seems to me to be the biggest story of the year, a gaping, unstanched wound in the planet, emitting death. And yet the prospect of going without drilling seems remote, the possibility of any political will to jump-start alternatives with the impact we need seems just as elusive, and the helplessness of government and industry to stop this nightmare is the most obvious fact (I just assume that BP is doing all it can as of now): all of it makes this story as huge as it is simply despair-inducing.

If we cannot stop this, what else can we not stop?

Your Head Trucker does not believe the government needs to own and run everything; and certainly no one planned for this disaster to happen.  The free-market capitalists at BP are working day and night to stop the spill, to be sure - but to protect the environment, or to save their own butts?  Oh and no volunteers, please:  we will handle everything with our own contractors, so get the fuck away from the coast!

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But wait!  It's un-American to criticize BP!  So says dipshit libertarian teabagger Rand Paul:
 

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The President takes note of the long-standing "cozy relationship" between the oil industry and the government in his weekly video address:
 

 
Transcript and info on the new commission here.  The White House overview of the federal response is here. 
 
What I Say:  I don't believe any of these commentators have yet foreseen the full, longterm ramifications of the oil spill on the environment or on the economy of this nation and all the others that surround the Gulf, and beyond.  Having lived on the Gulf Coast, my intuition tells me that much worse is to come, which will make the Exxon Valdez spill look like a dropped teacup.  This is not Obama's Katrina; it's Katrina and 9/11 and Pearl Harbor all rolled into one and multiplied times ten.  It's the Hiroshima of the Gulf of Mexico, boys.
 
Your Head Trucker predicts that Obama's response to this single event will be the make-or-break issue of his Presidency, all else aside.  I don't know how he can or should meet all the challenges involved in this horror, but I feel certain that if he does not meet them all effectively - and is not seen to meet them effectively by the public - well fellas, just call him one-term-Jimmy and prepare yourselves for another twenty years of god-fearing, business-loving, flag-waving Republican rule, count on it.
 
In fact, I wouldn't doubt that before year's end, the head-up-their-ass Republicans will be claiming that Obama engineered the oil spill as an excuse to take over the oil industry and extend his Communist domination of the government.  Which of course is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.  Remember, you heard it here first. 

God help us all.

The Spill

As seen from NASA's TERRA satellite yesterday; click on the image to enlarge.

Wikipedia has an extensively detailed article on the catastrophe.