That tiny speck of white upper-left is airplane. You're looking at miles of oil-streaked waters as the the situation in the Gulf of Mexico becomes more critical by the hour. As the giant oil slick is coming ashore at southeastern Louisiana's ecologically sensitive coast, the blown wellhead from what-was the Deepwater Horzion gushes crude with no end in sight ...
AMERICAblog posts
chilling images of the explosion and sinking of the platform.The company at the focus of the nation's worst oil disaster says it accepts responsibility and will pay the costs ...
"BP PLC said Monday that it will pay for all the cleanup costs from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that could continue spewing crude for at least another week. The company posted a fact sheet on its Web site saying it took responsibility for the response to the Deepwater Horizon spill and would pay compensation for legitimate claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses. 'We are responsible, not for the accident, but we are responsible for the oil and for dealing with it and cleaning the situation up,' chief executive Tony Hayward said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." He said the equipment that failed on the rig and led to the spill belonged to owner Transocean Ltd., not BP, which operated the rig."
Outrage after BP attempts to cap liability payments to coastal residents at only $5000 ...
"Over the weekend, news emerged that BP was circulating settlement agreements among coastal residents of Alabama and possibly other states, essentially requiring that "people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000," the Alabama Press-Register reported. Alabama's Attorney General Troy King protested and asked BP to stop distribution of the letters. ... As of Monday morning, BP's CEO said the practice had stopped."
BP will attempt a risky and unproven technique to cap the wellhead...
"Hayward said chemical dispersants seem to be having a significant impact keeping oil from flowing to the surface, though he did not elaborate. The update on the dispersants came as BP was preparing a system never tried nearly a mile under water to siphon away the geyser of crude from a blown-out well a mile underwater. However, the plan to lower 74-ton, concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface will need at least another six to eight days to get it in place. Officials also were trying to cap one of the three leaks to make it easier to place the first box on the sea floor."
Unfortunately the plan will need at least another six to eight days to get it in place.
Meanwhile: Ecological and economic costs escalate. Officials shut down fishing in 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas for at least 10 days from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle. Florida's attorney general says the state is bracing for major pollution and environmental damage.
The size of the massive spill is spreading "exponentially", experts say, and is now approximately the size of the island of Jamaica. Below is an another aerial view of that shows how wide the crude slicks are in some places. One of ABC news' latest reports has a video simulation that shows the size of the entire oil slick has tripled in the last three days, watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...
what a tough year so far in terms of disasters man made or by nature
Earthquake x 2
Volcano with Cloud preventing flight
and now Oil spill threatening wildlife and ecosystems
...I feel the need to hum Optimistic by Sounds of Blackness
Posted by: nathans | 03 May 2010 at 15:47
follow me http://twitter.com/PROTOTYPE_SUI
things are getting from bad to worst
Posted by: PROTOTYPE_SUI | 03 May 2010 at 20:46