We are underestimating the BP oil spill

At this point we all must be aware of the ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf. We have all been told that offshore drilling is safe and even Obama was a vocal proponent, though he may now be having second thoughts. I could easily go on about the big oil corporations, their poor safety record, influence on policy, huge profits and cost to our economy and well-being. Instead, what I’d actually like to point out right now is how the mainstream media is downplaying the severity of this oil spill and what it’s economic and environmental impact will be. Congress and the companies involved (BP, Transocean and Halliburton) are all trying to place caps on the monetary responsibility for this disaster while the companies involved are playing the blame game. The amount of oil contaminating the water everyday may be much higher than we are being told. So far it’s being reported that the best estimate is 210,000 gallons per day. Even if that is accurate and not higher, that is a huge amount of oil that will have a huge impact in a lot of ways.

This problem will not only contaminate the water, the animals and much of the coast but it will also impact the sea-food, restaurant and tourist industries. If people in those industries can’t work, they will join the unemployed. It will also have long term effects on our health and we will bear that cost as well. The containment will be expensive, the clean-up will be more expensive and the long-term effects will be astronomical.

We are being told that this is an “oil spill” but it’s more like a giant under-water gushing oil volcano. These high pressure oil spots are incredibly hard to contain, not to mention the fact that any work being done is subject to deep-sea temperatures, visibility and extreme pressure. It’s not so much that we hit a vein as we hit a major artery. So next time you hear someone talking about how we should allow off-shore oil drilling to alleviate our dependence on foreign oil, think twice because even one “spill” has an impact that is too much to bear.

UPDATE: Shortly after posting this blog NPR reported that the "Gulf Spill Could Be Much Worse Than Believed." NPR requested that independent experts examine video that BP released on Wednesday. The consensus was that the rate of the oil spill could be between 56,000 barrels to 84,000 barrels a day. Currently BP is still claiming there is no way to know for certain how much oil is being spilled each day, but stands by their estimate of approximately 5,000 barrels. While NPR's experts were evaluating video of the gusher and it's flow rate, BP is estimating based on measurements of oil on the sea surface.