Courtesy of NASA, with an interactive version
Cleanup crews are about to start burning the oil spill created by the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana. BP, which leased the rig from Transocean, hasn't been able to stop the leak. The spill is continuing at the rate of a thousand barrels a day. About 600 miles in circumference, it's threatening vital marshland and wildlife habitat along the southern coast.
Anne Thompson, NBC's chief environmental news correspondent, forwards this report from the task force working on that oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:
Workboats will consolidate oil into a fire resistant boom approximately 500 feet long. This oil will then be towed to a more remote area, where it will be ignited and burned in a controlled manner. The plan calls for small, controlled burns of several thousand gallons of oil lasting approximately one hour each.
The first burn is to start at noon Eastern and last for about an hour -- if it works. "Right now, it's a test burn," Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehmann says. "We're trying to see how it works."
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interesting how accidents like this don't happen with wind or solar energy. oh, but wind turbines kill birds and ruin the landscape, and the equipment for clean, renewable energy is too expensive. I'm sorry, I forgot. drill on, America, drill on...
I wish this had never happened, but since it did I wish it had happened before Obama announced his new "drill baby drill" plan. We should be moving away from this instead of doing more of it.
Rachel,
I understand your concern about the clean up of the oil rig mess. You might want to google Ecosphere. They are new and little but have some good ideas.
Check in Ecosphere. A new company. Purifies water through the drilling process. CNN checked it out last year. Most recently, t has been discuss in the Wall Street Journal. Presentations have been made at various conferences and exhibitions to introduce this new technology for which they have the only patents.
looking at their website, it seems promising. the environmental impact involved in drilling isn't the only concern though. oil is a non-renewable resource and eventually we're going to run out. we need a drastic move away from non-renewables and a greater push for clean, renewable, sustainable energy that can keep up with our high demands and the demands of our future generations.
I lived in Alaska during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. What a horror! Among the stuff we learned is that once the oil is on shore, you are well and truly @!$%#ed. Best to burn it off. Some temporary smoke is better than almost permanent pollution pounded into shore sediments. Prince WIlliam Sound is not right yet and it is a relaively simple ecosystem..
I would like MSNBC to get a quote from Sarah Palin about the oil spill situation, also known as "Spill, baby, spill."
Then, maybe we can POTUS Obama to repeal his oil spilling decision.
About the story tonight....and I hate to do this....but you need to correct the math. 100 miles by 45 miles, as stated by Rachel (and confirmed by me- I had to make sure I heard her correctly) is 4500 miles...Ohio is about 44,000 miles (a little more)*.
Other than this minor error, Rachel is right 99.979 percent of the time- F.U. Rush.
*All mileage checked with Wikipedia so I could be getting duped.
i always enjoy TRMS but....yes, as a geography nut that drove me crazy. However, it was her second time in geographical error. On Tuesday when the slick was slightly smaller, she approximated its size as that of West Virginia (approx. 25000 sq miles).
_
Ok, call me crazy...why does the Coast Guard have to "burn" the oil to "clean it up? We know they can pool it into thicknesses ready to burn. Sooo, why can't they siphon the oil onto a tanker and take it to a refinery to be "cleaned up?
I'm sure this is too simple and therefore will not work.
On the other hand. I know absolutely nothing about anything and plan to keep it that way. Just thinking through my fingers. Very dangerous.
Who pays for this cleanup? The taxpayers?
Shouldn't the oil companies that are responsible for this mess be forced to pay 100% for the cleanup?
I second that. I have heard many news accounts of this story and nothing about the cost of clean-up. It's very hard to estimate and price the cost to the environment evidently. But 1,100 people are at work for the clean-up effort. I'm sure the coast guard can easily bill it all. Are we getting anything back for this? Or is this just another incidence of corporate welfare?
"Under a 1990 U.S. oil pollution law, BP is required to foot the bill for the clean-up."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6976990.html
BP may have to foot the bill, but that doesn't mean they won't jack up the price of oil. I may be under the wrong assumption, but aren't we drilling our own oil to reduce the price of gas? and how can we lessen our dependency on foreign oil if we're letting ours spew into the ocean at 42,000 gallons a day? I hope this is a clear message to the Obama administration and our future leaders that oil, natural gas, and coal are outdated, unsafe, and unhealthy ways of producing energy.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100429/ap_on_bi_ge/us_louisiana_oil_rig_explosion
New leak discovered...it's now 5000 barrels a day instead of 1000
Considering the loss of oil workers lives and the slow death of wildlife, the environment and the planet caused by continuing fossil fuel use, the slogan should be:
"Kill, Baby, Kill"
Suuuure.... burn up the oil. What could go wrong? One word: Derweze.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derweze
Rachel, You have to do more about this story...No one on the local channels is even bringing it up. Its like they want us to forget about that they're ruining our Gulf coast the way the Exxon Valdez ruined the whole area up there. It has never been the same there, the town was ruined,the fishing , people killed themselves, men and women got illnesses from the clean-up stuff they put on the oil...and its happening again. This time BP is gettting a free ride, I don't even hear their name mentioned. Is it because they own the government or the politicians,> PLEASE HELP. If they can get away with this , what's next? Offshore drilling outside Baltimore,Washington, Cape Cod? NYC?
It's gotta stop so we can get control of our planet before its too late.
Thank You,
Jani Hayes
The media keeps saying a 1000 barrels a day. Now its 5000 barrels a day. Lets call it what it is -210,000 gallons a day. If it takes two months to stop the leak thats over 11 million gallons. Wasn't that the amount of the Exxon Valdez? Oh-Oh!!
my question is sence we all know that this spill is going to hit why are we not taking any steps to get the aniamls out. finding places to put them when they are healty seams to me, would cost less and be less harmful to move them out to other wildlife areas, then to try to get them health again and then find them places to be. I know they can't all be rounded up. But shouldn't they be doing something on land. To help those already endangered to a safe place, before they are no longer here.
Lisa this will affect hundreds of miles of coastline. There's no practical way to remove that many animals from their habitat. For example, just think of trying to catch all the birds that live within a mile of your house. And that doesn't even count all the marine wildlife and corals.
It's a noble thought yo have but it couldn't be done with months of organization...much less in the next 48 hours
at the white house press briefing this mourning home land secretary said bp said they will pay for clean up cost, EXXON said the same about 1989 valdez it has been over 20 years, they will wait out puplic attention, hold it up in court Mark MY WORD it will not be paid for that is not good business for proft over people
Why doesn't someone take a look at what they did at the 1969 Platform oil spill at Santa Barbara. I believe in eleven days they put over 200,000 gallons of crude on the beaches. They killed unbelievable numbers of seals, sealions and birds not to mention the numbers of fish. Dr. McNeely's boats were released by the US Navy from San Diego harbor and moved to the Santa Barbara spill. Using the water based dispersant developed by McNeely the boats stayed on sight for a year and according to the EPA and other letters no Birds, Mammals or fish were killed. No crude reached the beaches and they found no oil on the sea floor. Why are we not using this technology today? It is available.
Rachel said that burning the oil was bad, but everything I've heard and read is that it would be good if they would burn the oil. Could she expand on her viewpoint?
I know that this may seam to large of a project. But isn't, it up to us to save what we can, In the time we have, reather then do nothing and watch and hope for the best. Think of it this way you see a sea trutle sitting on the beach, you know that you can get him/her. Is that one sea turtle worth helping or should you just give up and say goodby. I know that many of the wildlife could die and some may never come back. but sometimes you have to try even if the odds are not in your favor. From my understanding as the oil comes in so will the sea animals. Is there people ready for this.
By the way just a comment on who is going to pay for clean up, yes BP is going to be paying. How ever I think they should pass a law that states that in cases like this the major companys can not pass the cost of this kind of thing, on to the consumer. Let it come from there pockets not ours. After all if we cause harm to someone or some thing we have to pay not our neighbor.
Rachael - I hope it hasn't escaped you that Alaska's ex first dude Todd Palin is an executive for BP (British Petroleum and formerly the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. and Anglo Persian Oil Co.) the company that was operating the platform.