Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Reaches Coast of Louisiana

The US Coast Guard announced this morning that the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill has reached Louisiana coastline. Poor weather conditions are currently hindering crewmen from laying boom lines to contain the oil.

It’s been a week now since a BP oil rig explosion unleashed a deadly stain on Earth Day 2010. Unfortunately, things are not looking up. The leak has spewed out crude oil faster than originally estimated and the effects of this disaster remain to be seen. BP, Halliburton, the Coast Guard and the U.S. military are all chipping in to help contain the spill, but at this point the collective effort cannot keep up.

The leak stems from an explosion on April 22 that injured 17 workers and eventually sunk the rig itself. 11 workers are still missing and presumed dead.

With leak rates estimated at up to 8,000 barrels per day and government officials saying it could take up to 90 days to stop the leak, the true detriment of offshore drilling is really beginning to take hold.

So far we have tragic loss of life, huge manpower expenditures for cleanup and containment, as yet untold damages to the environment, impending coastal damage and an interruption in shipping and oil drilling that will no doubt have an impact on our still-oil-addicted economy, day-to-day transportation and whatever other industries are feeling the weight of closed shipping lanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Furthermore, as troubling as offshore drilling already is, it is even more disconcerting to see how inept we are at reacting to its failure. Perhaps oil companies were so busy lobbying and advertising how “clean” their new and improved drilling techniques are that they never bothered to address a worst-case scenario. But the truth as I see it? There’s simply no proven way to stop an oil leak when it bursts.

How do you stop or contain an explosive leak that originates 5,000 feet below the surface and has an entire ocean to leak into?

Attempts have been made on this most recent spill. BP sent a robot down to the seabed in an attempt to close an emergency shutoff valve, but it failed, and now they’ve ignited a controlled burn to try to contain the spreading oil slick on the surface.

As that oil slick hits the southern coast today, it brings with it untold, and absolutely unnecessary, troubles for a region already hammered with natural disasters. The governor of Louisiana, whose state and most famous city are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina five years ago, has declared a state of emergency in preparation for tomorrow’s “landing.”

This could turn out to be the worst oil spill from an offshore rig in the US since a 1969 Pacific Ocean spill off Santa Barbara, California. That spill inspired a moratorium on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — a moratorium that President Obama wants to alter to allow some drilling. Last week’s spill could end up being a silver lining for environmentalists, or anyone that can see the myths behind offshore drilling, as there is now a chance that backlash could force Obama to once again reverse his stance and leave the moratorium on offshore oil rigs, thus preventing further spills down the line.

Here’s a quick idea: let’s have offshore wind farms instead!

Source: Reuters & NASDAQ

Photo Credit: Gather & Consumer Energy Report

Posted on April 30th in Solar News by Dan.