Posts tagged Oil Spill
Rush “Inside Job” Limbaugh on the BP Oil Spill
May 3rd
Rush Limbaugh’s latest attempt to try and stay in the news while turning off his listener base was his insinuation that the Gulf Oil spill was an inside job.
“I want to get back to the timing of the blowing up, the explosion out there in the Gulf of Mexico of this oil rig. … Now, lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, the carbon tax bill, cap and trade, that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day. I remember that. And then it was postponed for a couple of days later after Earth Day, and then of course immigration has now moved in front of it. But this bill, the cap-and-trade bill, was strongly criticized by hardcore environmentalist wackos because it supposedly allowed more offshore drilling and nuclear plants, nuclear plant investment. So, since they’re sending SWAT teams down there, folks, since they’re sending SWAT teams to inspect the other rigs, what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I’m just noting the timing here.”
So lets see … environmentalists wanted to stop offshore drilling by destroying the environment? The normal idiocy that escapes when Rush Limbaugh opens his mouth is pretty unremarkable but this is surprising, even from him.
Normally I don’t think you should feed the bears but you have to laugh at the desperation. Later Rush talked about how the spill would naturally be absorbed by the ocean and that no cleanup was necessary because everything will return in time. Goodbye Gulf Coast fishing industry listeners.
At least when MTV is desperate for attention, they come up with a reality TV show about New Jersey that features a woman with a horrible fake tan getting punched in the face. The only boobs Rush Limbaugh has to offer are his own and believe me, no one wants to see that.
Rush, you are playing into the Democrats hands. They want you as the face of the Republican party so that they can make independent voters feel uncomfortable about someone who is basically a 9/11 truther but on the other side of the aisle.
The BP Oil Spill: What Happens When it Comes Ashore?
May 2nd
The BP / Deepwater Horizon environmental disaster is going to be the costliest environmental disaster ever. If you haven’t looked at just how large the spill really is … look at the following image. The spill now covers much of the Gulf and the scary thing is that the image only shows the progression of the spill over five days and the spill now encompasses more than 9,000 square miles of ocean.
The scary thing is that no one even knows how much oil is actually leaking from the well.
BP original estimate: 1,000 barrels/day
4/28 NOAA estimate: 5,000 barrels/day
Wall Street Journal: 18,000 barrels/day
Ian McDonald (oceanographer): 25,000 barrels/day
BP worst case scenario (from a permit filing mentioned on Wikipedia but not sourced): 163,000 barrels/day
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but this couldn’t have hit a more vulnerable region of the United States. The Gulf Coast is still rebuilding from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. I know that last sentence sounds like a cliche but literally, visit it and see for yourself.
Fishing
I think the next great money making opportunity for anyone with the money is to set up some fish farms for gulf coast seafood. The reason is that considering the volume of oil leaking from the former Deepwater Horizon lines, this has the potential to wipe out much of the area’s fishing economy and permanently destroy ecosystems.
Its no secret. Obama is desperately trying to assure fisherman that the government will do everything possible to assist them but really the only thing we can do is set up an industry bailout because this situation is going to quickly grow from bad to worse.
This really really sucks and no one is going to care until the oil starts washing up on the shore but at that point, its the last phase of the environmental disaster. From that point, the oil will begin seeping into freshwater areas and this summer will probably produce a hurricane in the gulf and flooding will wash oil onto land which is incredibly difficult to cleanup and compounds the ecological destruction.
Tourism
Even if you hate the environmental angle and believe that in time, everything will return to normal … think about what this will do in the short term for tourism. Summer gulf vacations? Forget about it, who wants black beaches and depression? Even years from now, little droplets will continue to wash up on the shore and if you have ever gotten oil on your skin, it doesn’t just wash off, your skin absorbs the oil and it takes some work to remove.
Anyone trying to sell beachfront property … no one will take it, even if its free. Just thinking about all of the direct and indirect ways this will change the gulf is really depressing. This is going to wreck local economies and could lead to the shuttering of many small towns who are heavily dependent on fishing.
Furthermore, what if this spill begins heading towards Mexico. What will happen when a bunch of fishermen can’t fish? Well how do people without opportunities make money in Mexico? Drugs.
Its one thing to cleanup after a hurricane. You know what to repair and how to repair it … but cleaning up a persistent environmental problem on a scale unseen in modern history is the problem facing everyone involved.
