Analysis by independent experts based on satellite imagery says BP's
Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is larger that either the government or the industry admits. Based on calculations of the speed and size of the visible oil slick, the 5,000 barrel estimate by the Coast Guard is the lower bound for the rate of spill. John Amos of Sky Truth, an organization that specializes in gathering data to promote conservation, says the rate is more like 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons) a day. At that rate, the spill will easily exceed the
Valdez disaster. Although the Gulf has been adversely impacted by decades of oil industry development, it still is the habitat for numerous protected species, and a vibrant commercial fishing industry. The fishery in Prince William Sound still has not fully recovered from the toxic effects of crude oil.
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After first trying to stonewall environmentalist demands to reconsider his decision to "drill, baby drill",
Forty-four has conceded a halt to new drilling pending an investigation. What he will find is an industry that
has always placed environment impact behind profit, and has spent billions trying to
minimize environmental and safety regulations instead of preparing to prevent, contain, and ameliorate inevitable disasters in a risky, dirty business. Opening new offshore areas to drilling without the industry demonstrating a complete change of culture was an imprudent decision driven the exigencies of a broken political system in Washington, not "whacko environmentalists". Put a cork in it, Limbaugh.
[photo: courtesy NASA's Aqua satelite]
