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Satellite image by NASA/Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
The growing oil slick is “now estimated to be at least 130 miles by 70 miles, or about the size of the state of Delaware, [and is still] threaten[ing] shipping, wildlife, beaches and one of the United States’ most fertile fishing grounds.” Yesterday, it was reported that “winds so far are keeping most of the Gulf oil spill away from shore, and chemicals are doing a decent job dispersing the giant swath of slick crude oil looming off the coast.” However, the oil slick will likely spread further than the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists are saying that “oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico could enter the Gulf Stream, [drag] oil through the Florida Keys and up . . . [Florida's] Atlantic coast to Palm Beach County.” Consequently, Florida and other states are worried about their shrimping industries. As a result, BP “gave Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida $25 million each so the states have cash in hand to pay cleanup workers and mitigation efforts.” The oil spill and the subsequent fisheries closures will impact seafood prices.
BP sent a litigation team to the Gulf Coast area to offer compensation to fishers and businesses impacted by the oil spill, but “the damaged individuals and businesses would be required to sign BP paperwork.” Signing these documents might “require [signees] to forfeit their right to sue in the future.” Apparently, BP also asked fishers that it hired to “cleanup . . . the Gulf oil spill to sign waivers that would limit the company’s liability.” Obviously, under these circumstances, getting people to waive their right to sue is a nefarious practice. More from CBS News:
Alabama Attorney General Troy King said Sunday night that he has told BP they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians, the Mobile Press-Register reports. King reportedly said the agreements stipulate that residents will give up their right to sue the company in exchange for a payment of up to $5,000.
“People need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that,” said King, who noted that he is prohibited from giving legal advice to private citizens. “They should seek appropriate counsel to make sure their rights are protected.”
Yesterday, BP CEO Tony Hayward said, “The drilling rig was Transocean’s drilling rig, it was their equipment that failed, its their systems, their processors that were running it.” Hayward has also said, “We are responsible, not for the accident, but we are responsible for the oil and for dealing with it and cleaning the situation up.” There’s certainly enough blame to go around with claims against BP, Transocean, and Halliburton. However, one rig worker has claimed that BP was drilling much deeper than its federal permit authorized. More from the Seattle Times:
Meanwhile, lawyers representing environmental groups, rig workers and fisherman hurt by the explosion levied fresh accusations against BP, as well as Transocean and Halliburton. BP was operating the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, which it leased from Transocean. Halliburton was providing several services on the rig, including cementing, a method of capping the well to control pressure from oil and gas.
At least one worker who was on the rig when it exploded April 20 and who handled company records for BP said the rig was drilling deeper than 22,000 feet, even though the company’s federal permit allowed it to go only to 18,000 to 20,000 feet, the lawyers said.
BP strongly denied that it was drilling deeper than allowed.
Apparently, some legislators thought it was a good idea to cap “any company’s liability for economic damages” at $75 million. However, there is “new legislation would raise the cap to $10 billion.” More from NYTimes.com:
Up to $1 billion of the $1.6 billion reserve could be used to compensate for losses from the accident, as much as half of it for what is sometimes a major category of costs: damage to natural resources like fisheries and other wildlife habitats.
Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government.
The fund was set up by Congress in 1986 but not financed until after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989. In exchange for the limits on liability, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 imposed a tax on oil companies, currently 8 cents for every barrel they produce in this country or import.
The tax adds roughly one tenth of a percent to the price of oil. Another source of revenue is fines and civil penalties from companies that spill oil.
The result is a rainy-day fund, which over the years has been used mostly for spills that exceed the liability caps by relatively small amounts. But the trust fund managers have warned that a single big spill could make a sizable dent in the reserve.
Personally, I don’t understand how expanding offshore oil drilling is supposed to lead to energy security or lower prices at the pump, since the world’s economic health is measured by continued growth and the world’s economy is so intimately bound up with oil—a nonrenewable resource. Also, there’s another problem with “the ‘energy security’ argument for US oil production: oil is fungible and it is traded widely.”
If there’s one good thing that will come from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is that the disaster has certainly shocked the conscious of any human being with a soul and able to exhibit empathy. For example, yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger “withdrew his support for a plan he championed to allow new offshore oil drilling off Santa Barbara County, citing the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.” The recent push to expand offshore drilling by the Obama Administration may be reversed, and “dozens of environmental groups are urging the Senate to reject efforts to expand offshore drilling in light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf.”
Of course, unlike Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has seen the light, other Republicans and conservative pundits are making silly statements that don’t make any sense. Texas Governor Rick Perry characterized the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as an “act of God.” Rush Limbaugh said that environmentalists sabotaged the oil rig and caused the Gulf Coast oil spill. Limbaugh also downplayed the oil spill’s effects on ocean and coastal ecosystems, but “scientists and environmentalists scoffed at Rush Limbaugh’s suggestion that the ocean would clean up itself following a devastating accident in the Gulf of Mexico that has resulted in a miles-wide oil slick slowly making its way to fisheries and beaches along the coast.”
Let’s hope that BP’s plans to seal the leak prove successful and that any economic and environmental damage is easily mitigated and minimized.
Image: NOAA Closes Commercial and Recreational Fishing in Oil-Affected Portion of Gulf of Mexico
Video: Oil Spill = Ecological Chaos:
Video: Oil slick: Fishermen waiting for help from BP:
Video: Valdez Victims: Gulf Coast Has Long Road Ahead:
Video: BP: Weather ‘Significantly’ Impacted Containment:
Video: Worries Grow Over Spill’s Impact on Marine Life:
Video: Jon Stewart Satirizes the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Issue
On the Net: Consider these sites for updates on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill:
- NOAA Nautical Charts Display Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Projections
- Via The Nature Conservancy: Gulf Oil Spill: The Latest from Louisiana
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