The Deepwater Horizon crisis has entered day 71 as the gusher pumps up to 60,000 barrels of crude a day into the Gulf. Containment efforts including drilling relief wells are now in threat of the season’s first tropical storm predicted to turn hurricane strength later today.
It’s been over two months since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up, and oil is still leaking at an astonishing rate. Entire state economies might be crushed, and whole ecosystems wiped out. So whose fault is it? BP says it’s Halliburton, or maybe TransOcean, or Cameron International, literally anyone but BP. The truth? They’re all at fault. President Obama has called it the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history.
A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast.
Heavily oiled Brown Pelicans captured at Grand Isle, Louisiana on June 3, 2010 wait to be cleaned of Gulf spill crude at The Fort Jackson Wildlife Care Center in Buras, LA. (Photo : IBRRC)
A bird covered in oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill struggles to climb on to a boom in Barataria Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP)
An otter swimming in oil
A dead bird lies on a beach on Ship Island, Mississippi. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images/Joe Raedle)
A clean-up boat trawls through the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: Reuters)
The oil slick seen by the satellite on June 22, 2010.
Celia
July 22, 2010 at 6:00 am
i’m 12 and heart broken over this spill and now the one in China. i wrote to Obama, Scott Brown, John Kerry, and Cheryl Coakley-Rivera about the Gulf and how we need a more reliable fuel source and how sad i was. my cousin called me retarded for all i was doing, friends called me names and said mean stuff, i lost friends doing this and it’s made me even more sad. i’m trying to make a difference people! come on!
Joyce C.
July 26, 2010 at 8:27 pm
I commend you for being conscientious about our environment. For a 12-year old, I must say that is rare. I encourage you to continue your efforts despite the criticism. They will (hopefully), one day, realize the importance of preserving our earth.