The New Green Economy

President Obama met Sunday with local, state, and federal authorities to survey the damage of BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began after an offshore drilling rig exploded on April 20 off the coast of Louisiana.

At the end of the day, the president gave a briefing from the small town of Venice, LA—a place many believe will be the first community to be affected by the spill as it moves inland.  “Now, I think the American people are now aware, certainly the folks down in the Gulf are aware, that we're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster,” said Obama.

The BP disaster is already being compared to the 1989 Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska—the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The picture remained bleak last week after BP announced the temporary failure of its massive 98-ton containment device at the site of the ruptured MC252 oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.  BP had projected that in a best case scenario the device could collect up to 85% of the oil spewing forth from the largest of the three leaks, which began after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform last April 20.

The device had been tested successfully at depths of up to 400 feet, but encountered major hang-ups as it plummeted to a depth of 5,000 feet to the source of the leak.  A top BP official noted that it could be at least another two days before engineers find a solution to the problem and are able to attempt a second repair.

The breach in the subterranean pipeline continues to discharge some 210,000 gallons—5,000 barrels—of crude a day into the Gulf waters.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 55 days now since the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded and crude oil began spewing forth in staggering amounts into the Gulf of Mexico.  While it was originally estimated that some 5,000 barrels were polluting Louisiana coastal waters on a daily basis, experts now believe that number may be upwards of up to 40,000 barrels or 1.7 million gallons on a daily basis.