Let's Not Forget About the Gulf of Mexico

Yes, it was in the news for what seems like forever. And yes, maybe we're all tired of hearing about it. But please, now that the Deepwater Horizon oil well has been capped let's not forget about the shitload of chemicals swirling around in the Guld of Mexico. It will take a lot of money and effort to clean things up - if it is even possible to clean it all up...

Here is the latest:

Today scientists revealed the results of an investigation into the severity of the Deepwater oil spill. The plume of petroleum hydrocarbon chemicals measures a staggering 22 miles long, and has settled in a deep underwater layer (see photo).

The actual existence of the plume was in some doubt until a team of researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution provided incontrovertible proof. The researchers managed to catch up with the plume about three miles southwest of the original blowout location, then used a remote-controlled submarine and an underwater spectrometer to figure out its dimensions. They were able to study the plume for ten days in June before Hurricane Alex forced them from the area. It's still not known whether this was the only plume or whether others formed, and the team said at a press conference today that they would be unwilling to commit themselves either way on that point.

Anyone Think This is Good News?

Even though President Obama promised BP will cover 100% of the cost of repairing and cleaning up the Gulf Oil Disaster, the Wall Street Journal reports that BP will force taxpayers to pick up at least $9.9 billion of the bill.

How will this happen? BP is planning to use tax-code provisions that allow companies to get refunds on losses. Since the disaster will cost BP at least $32 billion, they want almost $10 billion dollars from taxpayers -- effectively cutting BP clean-up costs by a third.

Boycott BP!

Although I haven't blogged about the BP oil spill here, most of you probably know my thoughts about it. Of course, nobody is in favor of an oil spill, right? But then there are lunatics like that crazy libertarian Rand Paul, whose position is basically "shit happens, lay off of BP."

So we get eleven oil workers dead. The largest oil spill in U.S. history getting larger every day. The Gulf of Mexico (and even the East Atlantic Coast) will be feeling the ecological effects of this disaster for years to come. And for you Republicans, there is an economic impact, too, as this debacle destroys fisheries and the livelihoods of people who fish and shrimp in the Gulf, or rely on the Gulf for tourism business.

BP CEO Tony Hayward is sanguine about the whole problem. The Financial Times quotes him saying, “I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest.”

The time to boycott BP is now.

Go here: www.beyondbp.org