I’m sure most of you know about BP’s (British Petroleum) Gulf of Mexico oil spill (aka Deepwater Horizon oil spill) by now. The offshore oil drilling rig exploded on April 20th, well over a month ago, and yet it is still spilling at around 800,000 to 4,200,000 US gallons of crude oil every day. What's even more shocking is the amount of corruption that led to the spill and delay in clean up.
The current situation raises many questions:
How this happen?
There are many causes and finger pointing, but the most important issue is that BP did not know what they were doing and were not prepared for disaster. Most of the construction plans were not safe and should not have been approved by MMS (Mineral Management Service that’s part of US Department of interior) but the MMS officials were too busy looking at porn and tripping on Meth to do a proper job. The MMS officials were appointed by the Bush administration due to business ties with the oil industry; they have now been disbanded by the Obama administration. (read more at
www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/… )
Why is oil still spilling after 40 days and when will it stop?
Three days after the explosion, they still believed no oil was spilled at all. BP’s slow reaction to realizing the spill is the least of the problem. After finding out about it, BP lied about the amount that’s leaking until the government ordered BP to post all data of the spill online live at their site.
www.bp.com/bodycopyarticle.do?… . BP also thought that no oil would reach land so they took their sweet time. Every measure they’ve tried has failed and now they’re trying “Top Kill” to pump whatever they have (like cement, golf balls, and tires) into the spill site in hopes of blocking it. BP has learned nothing since the 1979 oil spill in the same gulf, they tried the same techniques back then but didn't work for 9 months until they finished building a relief well
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmhxp… . We have no idea if "Top Kill" will work (since it didn't work in 1979) or how long oil will continue to spill.
New edit as of Saturday May 29th, "Top Kill" has failed to work as predicted. Bp is going to try to capture some of the spilling oil, but predicts that they won't be able to stop the leak until they finish drilling a relief well at least 2-3 months from now. That's right, the oil is going to spill until August or more. Way to FAIL, Bp.
How large is the environmental and economic damage?
This is the largest offshore oil spill in American history. Not only is BP not doing enough to stop the spill, they chose to use Corexit 95, a highly toxic skin burning chemical banned in the UK, as the oil dispersant. Now, not only are there deadly oil floating around, but also over 60,000 gallons in toxic plumes of burning chemicals as well (see video
gizmodo.com/5547548/the-gulf-d… ) On May 19th, the NEPA ordered BP to find a less toxic dispersant within 24 hours but BP ignored them and continued to use Corexit. BP chose to use Coretix not because it's effective (it's not, there are plenty of better chemicals to use) they chose it because they had a business deal with the Coretix maker. BP is being cheap and not caring about the consequences. Not only is the fishing industry in ruins, but the lasting environmental impact can go on for decades. This is what the damage looks like underwater
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lBQkN…
Oil have already washed up on the shores of several islands and killed many birds, turtles, and fish, endangering over 4,000 species of birds and marine life (see photos more at
www.rsairphoto.com/gallery.php… ) Due to the loop current, the oil can be spread all the way to Florida.
What about the other existing offshore drills and the ones that will be built in the Artic wildlife reserves?
Unfortunately, the other oil drills are still in operation and won’t be shut down, and new shallow water drilling permits are still being handed out. Obama has postponed the scheduled Artic oil exploitation by one year; hoping public outrage would die down by then to allow them to continue this selfish act. We can not just let this go and wait until another oil spill to occur to regret our mistakes. Offshore drilling needs to be permanently banned right now. Saying something like "we should keep drilling, but just make it safer" doesn't change anything. It's easy to say let's make it safer but the matter of fact is, accidents, carelessness and oversight WILL happen. There have been over 80 oil spills in history, 4 in 2010, 2 of those 4 are in America. The only way to be safe from this disaster is to ban offshore drilling. Again, this video gives a fine example of how it did not get any safer since the 1979 spill
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmhxp… How can I help?
You can help spread the word and make a lasting impression by joining my contest. The contest info can be found in the artist's comment of this painting
. Join, help, and win cool prizes!
You can copy and paste everything in this journal on your own journal, blog, or link it in your twitter and facebook.
Please donate and sign these petitions to permanently ban offshore drilling
online.nwf.org/site/Donation2?…na.oceana.org/en/stopthedrill?… action.350.org/letter/?letter_…www.thepetitionsite.com/takeac…action.350.org/p/salsa/web/tel…Here’s a list of places you can volunteer at:
www.oilspillvolunteers.com/Go get a hair cut at your local salon and ask them to donate your hair to help soak up the oil! Dog and cat hair also works! (for info and demo at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg9vdn… contact donation places at
www.matteroftrust.org/)
Boycott Bp brands (for a list of brands, see
boycottbp.blogspot.com/2010/05… )
Do your part to rely less on oil; bicycle to school or take public transportation as much as possible.
Dawn (the dish soap) donates $1 to help wildlife for every bottle you buy.
made this facebook page for the cause
www.facebook.com/pages/remembe… Please don't just sit there and say "how horrible"; take action, spread the word, and help anyway you can.
Remember tomorrow.
I feel so flattered, Thank you!!! 
