Gushing in the Gulf

The cloudlike oil plumes gushing from the oil well in the Gulf are caused by the dispersants BP first threw at the oil spill. Samantha Joye with the University of Georgia, who reported finding areas containing sub sea oil last month said “This well is leaking a mist of oil that is settling out in the deep sea.”

The first thing any crook does is hide the evidence, and that‘s what BP has done with their dispersants whose effects are still untested. After he and a team of divers confirmed the existence of these plumes, Jean Michel Cousteau, son of the late Jacques Cousteau said BP’s actions are reckless . BP is still denying these plumes; from an AP article on June 10-“…marine scientists found a 100-foot-thick layer of oil 1,300 feet below the surface about 45 miles from the well site. BP said in a written statement that while there is oil in the water, the findings so far do not support the existence of undersea plumes.”

A recent poll came out saying 69 percent of the country disapproves of the president’s handling of the BP crisis. What about the government’s handling of the Exxon Valdez’s oil spill? Exxon was first ordered to pay 2 billion but after the victims spent 20 years in court, Exxon whittled that down to 530 million. According to Cousteau who has visited Alaska and seen firsthand the devastating effects, said, you can dig down a foot and a half in the sand and still find oil.

We need to demand less dependence on oil. One look at the macabre scene from Hell of an oil soaked pelican’s dance of death, and that should convince us. But then again, maybe we’ve become so steeled of heart we can watch scenes like that and not flinch.

Tragically, the only way to stop the spills is when every last drop of oil is sucked out of the earth, by that time, we won‘t have to worry about a viable planet or any future at all.