I’ve been avoiding over covering the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for a reason; it is just about everywhere else on the internet already. Don’t get me wrong, this is one of those rare stories that actually deserves the crazy amount of coverage it is getting.
But in the nearly two months since the spill occurred, I’ve noticed that the news hasn’t been getting better, but worse. Yet America seems to care less and less. Now reports are coming out that there could be as much as 60,000 barrels, or 2.5 million gallons of oil, pouring into the gulf every day. So where is the outrage?
Yet again, mass media appears to have failed to do even the most basic fact checking. Initially, BP claimed just 5,000 barrels of oil was leaking out of the broken oil riser per day. But an offshore oil rig at peak production can pump up 20,000 barrels per day of oil per more, and that is in a controlled flow. The broken riser was anything but controlled.
For a month, BP and the government stuck to the 5,000 barrels per day quota. Then it jumped to 10,000 to 15,000 barrels a day. Then it jumped yet again to 25,000 to 40,000 barrels per day. The official estimate now stands at 60,000 barrels per day. That is the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez disaster every four days.
The problem is, at this point, most of America seems to started to move on. Sure, many people are going out of their way not to buy gas from independently owned-and-operated BP gas stations (many of which don’t even get their fuel from BP). But as America’s interest wanes, the numbers keep going up.
Where does it end?
Source: Treehugger | Image: LA Times
PDF 
About Christopher DeMorro
HAH, you think Obama actually wants to stop the spill. His own government manuals say that the oil MUST be contained offshore, time is of the ultimate …. And then goes golfing.
Silly you, you actually thought Obama wanted the spill to be stopped cleaned up, contained …… Then you must not have heard what Rev Wright was saying.
great – i’m outraged of course. But you can’t magically change everything. Its far better to take a long range view and slowly get to a better place than to continually have a crisis mentality.
HAH, you think Obama actually wants to stop the spill. His own government manuals say that the oil MUST be contained offshore, time is of the ultimate …. And then goes golfing.
Silly you, you actually thought Obama wanted the spill to be stopped cleaned up, contained …… Then you must not have heard what Rev Wright was saying.
great – i’m outraged of course. But you can’t magically change everything. Its far better to take a long range view and slowly get to a better place than to continually have a crisis mentality.
There is no outrage because I don’t find the oil spill is “all over the internet”. There is a gross LACK of information and coverage of the situation except in the states affected. I appreciate your article, every bit of info helps. The lack of media coverage is reminding me of China, actually – if they don’t tell us about it so we don’t know about it. We American citizens have very little practice with doing our own research.
Bobby Jindal, the gov. of La, is defying the Prez and has taken it upon himself to order the national guard to start dropping sandbags, and having barges use their suction mechanisms to start vaccuuming up the oil. He is pretty badazz, I wish he were my governor! (I have to deal with stinky slimy ol Rick Perry)
There is no outrage because I don’t find the oil spill is “all over the internet”. There is a gross LACK of information and coverage of the situation except in the states affected. I appreciate your article, every bit of info helps. The lack of media coverage is reminding me of China, actually – if they don’t tell us about it so we don’t know about it. We American citizens have very little practice with doing our own research.
Bobby Jindal, the gov. of La, is defying the Prez and has taken it upon himself to order the national guard to start dropping sandbags, and having barges use their suction mechanisms to start vaccuuming up the oil. He is pretty badazz, I wish he were my governor! (I have to deal with stinky slimy ol Rick Perry)
What exactly are Americans supposed to do with their outrage? Demand that higher fines be levied against BP and Deepwater Horizon? $20 billion hardly sounds like it will cover all the damages caused by this catastrophe and yet Republican lawmakers are calling it a shakedown. It looks like a free pass to me.
What exactly are Americans supposed to do with their outrage? Demand that higher fines be levied against BP and Deepwater Horizon? $20 billion hardly sounds like it will cover all the damages caused by this catastrophe and yet Republican lawmakers are calling it a shakedown. It looks like a free pass to me.
1) People feel helpless. They don’t know what to do.
2) There will be plenty of outrage soon enough coming from Gulf residents.
1) People feel helpless. They don’t know what to do.
2) There will be plenty of outrage soon enough coming from Gulf residents.
Well the solutions is the same STOP DRIL BABY DRIL AND START SOLAR / WIND POWER ! With al those bilions we could build masive solar fields that could cover all our energy needs.
Well the solutions is the same STOP DRIL BABY DRIL AND START SOLAR / WIND POWER ! With al those bilions we could build masive solar fields that could cover all our energy needs.
how many barrels will leak by august, the earliest BP claims to cap the oilwell. once the oil slick spreads to the atlantic ocean it can circulate all the way around the world. maybe the end of the world as we know it does occur on 12-21-12 from the worldwide firestorm on the open water. guess we’ll have to outlaw matches and open flames on the beaches.
how many barrels will leak by august, the earliest BP claims to cap the oilwell. once the oil slick spreads to the atlantic ocean it can circulate all the way around the world. maybe the end of the world as we know it does occur on 12-21-12 from the worldwide firestorm on the open water. guess we’ll have to outlaw matches and open flames on the beaches.
Now is the time to pump the oil out of the ocean, separate the water from it and start selling it for cheap.
Now is the time to pump the oil out of the ocean, separate the water from it and start selling it for cheap.
I agree with bob morris. I’m very very very upset by this and have been saying from day 1 that this is an urgent problem, but what can I (or any individual) really do to stop this? it doesn’t help that people literally don’t care, but i don’t think looking to obama is what we should be doing either. humanity as a collective is totally unprepared for a disaster like this.
I agree with bob morris. I’m very very very upset by this and have been saying from day 1 that this is an urgent problem, but what can I (or any individual) really do to stop this? it doesn’t help that people literally don’t care, but i don’t think looking to obama is what we should be doing either. humanity as a collective is totally unprepared for a disaster like this.
Constantin is right. It is time to stop the mentality of “drill-baby-drill” and to recognize that we are not helpless – we are in fact addicted – and need to break our addiction to oil. It is time to make a personal commitment to changing our lifestyle.
Instead of bypassing the BP/ARCO station to by your gas at a different station, how about bypassing your consumption of fossil fuel (at least a little – please?!). The US consumes about 30% of the oil produced each year. I’m sorry, but wringing your hands about the environmental consequences of supplying your habit is a bit shallow. Americans need to quit being the oil hogs of the world and need to start finding ways to conserve. How about buses, rail, telecommuting? How about favoring the purchase of locally produced food? How about leading the world in the use of solar/wind power (we hardly lack for either resource)? We Americans have lost our will to make positive change and instead spend our time pointing fingers and shouting at the other guy. Get off your duff Americans, ride your bike, walk, bus, telecommute (and yes, corporations, start trusting your employees and let them work from home!). We CAN reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, but only after we recognize (as Pogo famously said decades ago) “We have met the enemy, and he is us”!
Constantin is right. It is time to stop the mentality of “drill-baby-drill” and to recognize that we are not helpless – we are in fact addicted – and need to break our addiction to oil. It is time to make a personal commitment to changing our lifestyle.
Instead of bypassing the BP/ARCO station to by your gas at a different station, how about bypassing your consumption of fossil fuel (at least a little – please?!). The US consumes about 30% of the oil produced each year. I’m sorry, but wringing your hands about the environmental consequences of supplying your habit is a bit shallow. Americans need to quit being the oil hogs of the world and need to start finding ways to conserve. How about buses, rail, telecommuting? How about favoring the purchase of locally produced food? How about leading the world in the use of solar/wind power (we hardly lack for either resource)? We Americans have lost our will to make positive change and instead spend our time pointing fingers and shouting at the other guy. Get off your duff Americans, ride your bike, walk, bus, telecommute (and yes, corporations, start trusting your employees and let them work from home!). We CAN reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, but only after we recognize (as Pogo famously said decades ago) “We have met the enemy, and he is us”!
do nothing, let oil destroy and ecosystem, then maybe people will realize just how evil oil is. clean it up quickly, then the whole thing is forgotten quicker than it came.
do nothing, let oil destroy and ecosystem, then maybe people will realize just how evil oil is. clean it up quickly, then the whole thing is forgotten quicker than it came.
“By the way, Sarah Palin, if you’re watching, how is that offshore drilling working out for ya?” —David Letterman
“By the way, Sarah Palin, if you’re watching, how is that offshore drilling working out for ya?” —David Letterman
It’s interesting that people should already be loosing interest in what might turn into an environmental catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions. Because rumour has it that it may very well be impossible to ever stop this oil spill until the total amount of 2 billion barrels in the oil field have spilled into the ocean at a rate of a 150K barrels a day:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967
Talk about apocalyptic: the red color of the oil is eerily reminiscent of the Rev 8:8 prophesy. So may be we should pay heed to this warning and change something about the way we live. Not gonna happen though: Rev 9:20….
It’s interesting that people should already be loosing interest in what might turn into an environmental catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions. Because rumour has it that it may very well be impossible to ever stop this oil spill until the total amount of 2 billion barrels in the oil field have spilled into the ocean at a rate of a 150K barrels a day:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967
Talk about apocalyptic: the red color of the oil is eerily reminiscent of the Rev 8:8 prophesy. So may be we should pay heed to this warning and change something about the way we live. Not gonna happen though: Rev 9:20….
Okay, Chris, let’s leave the genuflecting and flagellating to the “habit and grab-it” crowd.
But the article is right that the reporting is getting worse. Part of that is the decline of hard journalism in this country, which is tied to the decline of newspapers and magazines. Most journalists, if they’re from the online school, are disregarded as fringe and not given the time of day by politicos or investigators. A lot of the remainder, print journalists, have become so jaded they just regurgitate whatever is fed them and never bother with true investigation.
Compile that with the American Idle mentality that’s pervaded this land over the last 20 years, and you get a general population too stupid and lazy to bother with real questions or any issues that aren’t five inches in front of them.
Welcome to the Land of Plenty…
Okay, Chris, let’s leave the genuflecting and flagellating to the “habit and grab-it” crowd.
But the article is right that the reporting is getting worse. Part of that is the decline of hard journalism in this country, which is tied to the decline of newspapers and magazines. Most journalists, if they’re from the online school, are disregarded as fringe and not given the time of day by politicos or investigators. A lot of the remainder, print journalists, have become so jaded they just regurgitate whatever is fed them and never bother with true investigation.
Compile that with the American Idle mentality that’s pervaded this land over the last 20 years, and you get a general population too stupid and lazy to bother with real questions or any issues that aren’t five inches in front of them.
Welcome to the Land of Plenty…
To Clean up the Gulf Oil or not; that is the question
It is hard to believe that on suspicion of not having fire extinguishers on board the Coast Guard shut down the Oil Barges. What prevented them from boarding and performing a visual inspection? They have the power and the law on their side and make such a blatant error in judgement??????
To Clean up the Gulf Oil or not; that is the question
It is hard to believe that on suspicion of not having fire extinguishers on board the Coast Guard shut down the Oil Barges. What prevented them from boarding and performing a visual inspection? They have the power and the law on their side and make such a blatant error in judgement??????
Don’t understand what good being “outraged” is going to do. It’s an awful accident, and it’s likely that it could have been prevented. I’m extremely disappointed. However, what good does it do me to be outraged? It’s not as if anyone INTENDED for this to happen. At what point do we have the right to accept the unfortunate reality of this situation? When will it be OK for us to stop being “outraged” and start moving forward.
Frankly, this is a great example of environmentalism gone awry. Rather than focus on solutions and the future, you dwell on emotions and the past. From there it’s a very short leap to start banning all off-shore oil drilling and REALLY start screwing over the Gulf’s economy.
Sometimes it seems that the green movement’s maturity is in short supply. Outrage – and emotions in general – have no place in such a serious issue.
Don’t understand what good being “outraged” is going to do. It’s an awful accident, and it’s likely that it could have been prevented. I’m extremely disappointed. However, what good does it do me to be outraged? It’s not as if anyone INTENDED for this to happen. At what point do we have the right to accept the unfortunate reality of this situation? When will it be OK for us to stop being “outraged” and start moving forward.
Frankly, this is a great example of environmentalism gone awry. Rather than focus on solutions and the future, you dwell on emotions and the past. From there it’s a very short leap to start banning all off-shore oil drilling and REALLY start screwing over the Gulf’s economy.
Sometimes it seems that the green movement’s maturity is in short supply. Outrage – and emotions in general – have no place in such a serious issue.
If we had been allowed to drill in ANWR back when Clinton veto’d a bill allowing drilling there in 1995, if we had not chosen to forbid drilling in areas slightly closer to the coast and thereby pushing drilling into areas that are so deep that drilling is much more risky, we would not now be wondering what brought us to this point. Oil is remarkably cheap and easy to produce, if you don’t make half the best sources illegal to obtain. Solar and wind are great to round out an energy portfolio, and we need to increase our use of both of them, but you can’t use either as a primary energy source due to their unreliability.
We need to drill, baby, drill in the easy places, not force our energy providers to go a mile down in the ocean to find oil. And while we drill in the short term, we should be spending a good amount of time and money to increase our use of nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy generation.
If we had been allowed to drill in ANWR back when Clinton veto’d a bill allowing drilling there in 1995, if we had not chosen to forbid drilling in areas slightly closer to the coast and thereby pushing drilling into areas that are so deep that drilling is much more risky, we would not now be wondering what brought us to this point. Oil is remarkably cheap and easy to produce, if you don’t make half the best sources illegal to obtain. Solar and wind are great to round out an energy portfolio, and we need to increase our use of both of them, but you can’t use either as a primary energy source due to their unreliability.
We need to drill, baby, drill in the easy places, not force our energy providers to go a mile down in the ocean to find oil. And while we drill in the short term, we should be spending a good amount of time and money to increase our use of nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy generation.
It seems like there is finally some good news with the spill. The Houston Chronicle reports, U.S. ships were being outfitted earlier this month with four pairs of skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days.” I hope this is a sign of things to come. For all those feeling pretty gloomy about this situation, I recommend a good laugh… Here’s a funny joke, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd0svVWfFbo
i agree that there is little or no real outrage. In fact there is almost no conversation about the oil spill. There is just “coverage” Americans are letting the media and pundits script their response. They are merely the mute extras shaking their heads with expressions of disbelief. A surprising number of people agreed that the poor BP oil exec deserved a vacation. I fear that Americans just want to “get their life back.”
I have been trying to spread the “drive 55″ message. I think if more people got back to the belief that they can assert their moral and economic will by collective actions like this it would help them wake up to the fact that we are the problem, the big oily monster. We have to clean up our own feathers, scrape the goo from our own eyes, and start solving our own problems rather than waiting for media to tell us about “the big fix”
i agree that there is little or no real outrage. In fact there is almost no conversation about the oil spill. There is just “coverage” Americans are letting the media and pundits script their response. They are merely the mute extras shaking their heads with expressions of disbelief. A surprising number of people agreed that the poor BP oil exec deserved a vacation. I fear that Americans just want to “get their life back.”
I have been trying to spread the “drive 55″ message. I think if more people got back to the belief that they can assert their moral and economic will by collective actions like this it would help them wake up to the fact that we are the problem, the big oily monster. We have to clean up our own feathers, scrape the goo from our own eyes, and start solving our own problems rather than waiting for media to tell us about “the big fix”
i thank every one in the usa needs to band together and boycott bp.dont buy nothing from their stores and try to bankrupt them.lets stick to it people.the generations after us will never see the gulf the way it use to be,thank about it.
I have been searching for an accurate assessment of the pressure at the well head, or even the top of the BOP
I understand that sea water has a pressure of @ 2,200 psi at 5,000 feet. What is the pressure of the oil/gas coming out? Some wild guesses are in the 20,000+psi, but there is no real data on what it actually is.
I ask this, because if it is 20k psi, what technology do we have to contain the flow? And if the drill pipes are damaged, what else can we do?
I have been searching for an accurate assessment of the pressure at the well head, or even the top of the BOP
I understand that sea water has a pressure of @ 2,200 psi at 5,000 feet. What is the pressure of the oil/gas coming out? Some wild guesses are in the 20,000+psi, but there is no real data on what it actually is.
I ask this, because if it is 20k psi, what technology do we have to contain the flow? And if the drill pipes are damaged, what else can we do?
Cromagnum, good questions. And if the oil is coming out at 20,000 psi, what has that done to the pipe line shaft? Is it eroding from the top down? Is a relief well going to reduce the pressure enough to make a real difference? Given the repeated errors on the part of BP prior to the explosion/fire, should we expect professional performance from here on out? Given the level of amateurish leadership from BP/Obama/McChrystal/GWBush/Gordon Brown/Sarah Palin/Al Gore/John McCain/Ken Lay/General Motors/AIG/US Senate, should we expect our experts to fail? If so, what is a logical response?
Cromagnum, good questions. And if the oil is coming out at 20,000 psi, what has that done to the pipe line shaft? Is it eroding from the top down? Is a relief well going to reduce the pressure enough to make a real difference? Given the repeated errors on the part of BP prior to the explosion/fire, should we expect professional performance from here on out? Given the level of amateurish leadership from BP/Obama/McChrystal/GWBush/Gordon Brown/Sarah Palin/Al Gore/John McCain/Ken Lay/General Motors/AIG/US Senate, should we expect our experts to fail? If so, what is a logical response?
Ziv,
Do you take all your talking points from rush limbaugh?? Please get some original thought. Those arguments are a red herring in light of the reasons why this platform broke down. Per every other expert this could of been prevented now go back to watching sean hannity.
Ziv,
Do you take all your talking points from rush limbaugh?? Please get some original thought. Those arguments are a red herring in light of the reasons why this platform broke down. Per every other expert this could of been prevented now go back to watching sean hannity.
Johnny, did you even read my statement/question? I was blasting left and right pretty evenhandedly. You are the one that is talking like an idealogue. The questions remain even if you use ad hominems left and right. BP has made repeated errors of judgement if you have read what the disagreements were between Deep Water Horizon drillers and BP were about. If the pressure is as high as they are now stating, a relief well may merely slow the flow rather than stop it.
But the meat of my statement/question remains, should we expect incompetence at leadership levels here on out? Rush isn’t asking this, I am. Left or Right, Business or Academia, it seems that simple competence is a goal that is simply too difficult to achieve for most of our leaders. As I stated (and Rush has not), BP/Obama/GWBush/Gordon Brown/Sarah Palin/Al Gore/John McCain… They have all made just stupid, glaring errors that were entirely of their own making. Everyone screws up from time to time, we are human. But professionals should be making errors of judgement, not blowing the easy calls.
Johnny, did you even read my statement/question? I was blasting left and right pretty evenhandedly. You are the one that is talking like an idealogue. The questions remain even if you use ad hominems left and right. BP has made repeated errors of judgement if you have read what the disagreements were between Deep Water Horizon drillers and BP were about. If the pressure is as high as they are now stating, a relief well may merely slow the flow rather than stop it.
But the meat of my statement/question remains, should we expect incompetence at leadership levels here on out? Rush isn’t asking this, I am. Left or Right, Business or Academia, it seems that simple competence is a goal that is simply too difficult to achieve for most of our leaders. As I stated (and Rush has not), BP/Obama/GWBush/Gordon Brown/Sarah Palin/Al Gore/John McCain… They have all made just stupid, glaring errors that were entirely of their own making. Everyone screws up from time to time, we are human. But professionals should be making errors of judgement, not blowing the easy calls.