Indpendent Analysis Says Blowout Bigger Yet

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. {"Exxon Valdez"}.

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]

California Protects More Seacoast

California's underwater marine parks are set to expand on May 1st to include the Point Reyes Headlands, Bodega Head, the Farallon Islands and Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.  The designations are part of a process to implement the Marine Life Protection Act that requires the state to develop a system of marine protected areas the length of the 1,100 mile coastline.  California is the first seacoast state to implement such a comprehensive plan to manage marine resources.  The north central coast network creates 21 marine protected areas, 3 marine management areas and six special closures.  The designations put 11% of state waters into fully protected marine reserves.  Planning for the far north and south coasts is underway and expected to be implemented by 2011.  New research confirms that marine reserves play an important role in replacing marine life harvested in areas outside of the reserves.

[photo: South Farallon, NOAA]

NOAA's Forecast Map for the Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Mississippi Canyon 252 refers to the OCS lease designation.

Delta Wildlife Refuge Still at Risk

More: It will be a bigger disaster than the Exxon Valdez. The oil is headed to shore and British Petroleum has been unable to cut off the flow, now estimated at 5,000 barrels a day. Locals say company officials were in denial about the size of the leak. No effort was made to surround the burning rig with booms before it blew up and crude started flowing. The leading edge of the slick is only 3 miles from shore.  Authorities estimate it will reach the Mississippi delta tonight. Attempts to cut off the flow of crude at the wellhead using only robotic equipment have not succeeded. No explanation has been given why manned deep submersibles have not been sent to the site in an attempt to close the blowout valve. At least three months will go by before an intercepting relief well can be drilled, and the well capped with concrete. The already fragile Louisiana coast and wetlands will be covered in a toxic goo lethal to wildlife and commercial fishing. The only good that can come of this slow motion disaster is the reversal of the recent administration decision to open up more of the US coastline to oil and gas drilling. Until the industry can convincingly demonstrate that it has the will, the technology, the trained manpower, and the financial commitment to rapidly respond and contain disasters like the Deepwater Horizon, the government should not allow it to operate in new offshore areas. Deepwater Horizon is destined to replace the 11,000 million gallons the Valdez spilled at the top of the industry's sorry environmental record in the United States.

Update:{4.25.10}The destruction by fire of BP's deep water drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon last week has caused a underwater leak of about 1,000 barrels of crude a day spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. The rig had been producing 8,000 barrels a day before a fire destroyed the platform and killed 11 workers. Most of the crew escaped from the platform. The Coast Guard said it will take time to decide how to stop the leak 5,000 feet down in the Gulf waters. A worst case scenario is that it will take months to stop the well riser rupture. The riser is lying kinked on the sea floor restricting the flow of oil.  Company officials are attempting to activate the blowout valve using remote controlled submersibles to cut off the flow, but the operation is complex and may not succeed. Environmentalist are concerned about the magnitude of destruction to wildlife and ecosystems if the crude reaches the coast.  The slick is now covers 1800 square miles and is 30 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

{4.15.10}Crews are working to contain an oil spill near the Delta National Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of the Mississippi River. A Coast Guard officer at the scene said the slick covered about 16 square miles of the refuge. The refuge contains about 76 square miles of marshland and waterways. It is the home to a multitude of raptors, wading and migratory birds including endangered species such as the brown pelican, arctic peregrine falcon and piping plover. The American alligator also lives there. Delta NWR was established in 1935 primarily as a sanctuary and habitat for wintering waterfowl.  Although accessible only by boat, the refuge has long been used as a hunting and fishing ground.

Steady progress is being made cleaning up the spill, and no wildlife has been observed in distress. Seven thousand feet of containment boom was deployed to protect sensitive areas. The oil spill was first reported on Tuesday when a barge dredging for Exxon/Mobil notified the Coast Guard at 1am. The dredging barge is a "stump barge" which anchors itself to the bottom by driving a piling into the channel bed. About 18,000 gallons of oil spilled before Cypress Pipe Line Co (Chevron/BP), the owner of the pipe, could close it off. The cause of the spill has not yet been officially determined, but Exxon/Mobil has offered to help clean up the spill.  However, oil spills of size or another are very common in the delta because of the intensity of oil and gas development there.  Records of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality show that ten of the largest refineries in the state averaged ten accidents a week during 2005-08.

[photos: USFWS]

Le Shorter: Only in DC

Is the Post trying to send a subliminal message?  If so, the editors are totally whacked. Forty-four's corporate sponsored incrementalism is so far from Malcolm X's race inspired revolution it makes comparison seem ludicrous.

Le Shorter: US Approves First Offshore Wind Farm

The idea was opposed by the late Senator Kennedy because he thought the 130 spinning turbines would spoil his view from the Kennedy Compound. Massachusetts Indians opposed it saying the turbines would interfere with their sunrise ceremonies. But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has approved the Cape Wind project off of Cape Cod. The project developers hope to begin generating electricity by 2012 for the residents of Cape Cod, and aim to supply electricity to about two-thirds of them. Nothing like a looming ecological disaster in the Gulf to clear the head and motivate government leaders. Nudge, Nudge.

Single Payer Health Insurance: An Idea So Good It Will Not Die

Vermont's House passed a version of single payer health insurance legislation already passed by the state Senate last Friday. Vermont follows California's House in adopting the most efficient way to provide universal coverage to its residents. One of the selling points for the "Obamacare" legislation just barely passed by Congress is that it contains a waiver mechanism allowing states to experiment with innovative methods of providing affordable health care. But it order to appease industry lobbyists, Congress delayed the implementation of opting out of the state exchanges until 2017, after the expense of establishing mandated state exchanges has been incurred. To opt out, states have to provide a system that provides comparable benefits to at least as many people as the exchange would have covered at no extra cost. Those requirements could be met without much difficulty by a state-wide single payer system because of its much lower administration costs. But states implementing innovative systems must also reconcile them with federal requirements for a host of federal programs: Medicare, Medicaid, FEHBP, Indian Health Service, Tricare, and ERISA that preempts legislation affecting employee benefit plans. HHS has no authority over ERISA, which is administered by the Department of Labor. Thus the new federal legislation does very little to encourage states to adopt more efficient delivery systems for health. If California and Vermont implement single payer health insurance despite the regulatory hurdles, the rock will begin to roll.