"The Exxon Valdez is going to pale in comparison to this as it goes on."

[marmar]

from BBC News:



US military joins Gulf of Mexico oil spill effort


The US military has joined efforts to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico as fears rise about its scale.

Five times as much oil as previously thought could be leaking from the well beneath where a rig exploded and sank last week, the US Coast Guard says.

Rear Admiral Mary Landry said 5,000 barrels a day were thought to be gushing into the sea off Louisiana.

The Department of Homeland Security has designated the spill as one of "national significance".

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is to go to Louisiana to oversee operations, told reporters in Washington that this designation would allow resources to be ordered in from other areas of the US.

At the same briefing, a coastguard official said the oil slick was expected to wash ashore on the Gulf Coast on Friday.

And Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior David Hayes said the US government had ordered inspections of all deep-water oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico to see if anti-spill regulations were being followed. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8651624.stm

[DFW]

1. The most logical progression in the world

The only thing "Drill, Baby Drill" was going to get us was "Spill, Baby, Spill"

And so it did.

[GreenTea]

2. Will the oil companies use this as a bullshit excuse to raise oil prices as they did

at every turn under BushCo?

[Webster Green]

3. And the crazy people who "want their country back" want more of this.

Drill baby drill!

USA! Fuck yeah! :silly:

[Supersedeas]

4. Regulations....mavericks don't need your damned regulations.

[brendan120678]

5. I don't see how it can possibly be worse...

than Exxon Valdez.
There were 10,800,000 gallons of oil spilled in that case.

Assuming 5,000 gallons a day, it would take 2,160 days at the current rate of this disaster to equal that of the Valdez.
Six years of leakage at the current rate.

[Webster Green]

6. 5000 barrels a day, not gallons.

It would only take 50 days to equal the Exxon Valdez spill (250,000 barrels), and that is a real possibility.

[ipaint]

7. Yes, I read BP is estimating 90 days to stop the leak. nt

[Webster Green]

8. Yep.

Drill baby drill!

Fucking insanity! :banghead:

[onethatcares]

9. bottom line, who cares which oil spill trumps which oil spill

the coast lands of the gulf will be a disaster for years, the jobs they provided and the great seafood will be gone, along with assorted wetland birds, mammals, amphibians, crustaceans, and the rest of it.

We've shit our beds, big time.

My only question is if the teabaggers that live along that coast are going to demand our socialist government give them money to clean it up and live on.

What do you think?

[Webster Green]

12. I care.

Not disagreeing with anything you said. It's tragic.

But there's nothing wrong with putting in perspective how it may compare to the largest previous spill.

I like knowing stuff like that.

[underseasurveyor]

10. This is going to be a horrible disaster for years to come.

20 after the fact there are still eco problems caused by the valdez spill.

Already my SO has calls out to biologist friends in the gulf area to see what the potential habitat and wildlife impacts might be/will be and how to proceed.

Very sad to say the least since shit like this is only going to get worse if drilling is allowed to continue and expand. I say the sludge that gets cleaned up should be dumped in sarahs yard. Send her all the dead fish, the oil covered wildlife carcasses, along with all the oil soaked cloths.

[Bluebear]

11. kick