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The leak goes on

So the leak in the Gulf of Mexico goes on and on.   Remember it is more than a month old.  The Horizon Deepwell Rig blew up April 20. Conveniently for Transocean who owns the rig the last seven hours of data about safety precautions and all written documents went down with the rig.

Now the oil spill is the size of the State of Maryland.  So long Rhode Island.  The thick gooey oil is penetrating the Louisiana marsh lands and will wreak havoc on that sensitive eco-systems.  And experts are telling us it is hitting the loop current–which turns into what we used to call the Gulf Stream current when I was a kid and lived for a short time in Miami.  The current whips around the southern tip of Florida past the keys and up the east coast of the United States.  This environmental disaster will make its way to the beaches of Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and some say as far north as the beaches of the Carolinas. 

Even the diplomatic freeze between Cuba and the U.S. is not so cold.  The U.S. has had to talk with Cuba about the impending disasters that could ruin Cuban beaches as well. 

And the recent pipe they put in only draws off about 20% of the gushing oil.  As I mentioned in my last post about this-even though BP is saying  it is 5000 barrels a day now they are hedging and saying it is more. Which is exactly what Steve Wereley, a Purdue University mechanical engineering professor had been saying.  He analyzed the tape and estimated that it is  70,000 barrels a day coming out of that pipe.

It is painful to watch the streaming video of the leak. It pours out with great force.

But everyone should watch this video to understand how serious this situation is.  Below  is the latest photo from a NASA Satellite on May 18.  The three areas of sunlight are actually reflections bouncing off the oil slick. A small tendril of oil moves toward the loop current.  The government has closed off more of the fishing grounds to protect the food supply and all of us.

Now even some of the fisherman are saying they are having physical reactions such as difficulty breathing (from oil fumes) and nausea and headaches!  This is a national nightmare–no a global one.

It pains my heart.  And perhaps should give us all pause about any offshore drilling until safety regulations can really be enforced.