Oil spills are quite common this side of the pond. We've just got SO many ships in such a small space. And since the Torrey Canyon in 1967 ruined the Cornish fishing industry there have been plans in place in case it happens again. Come to think of it, it was the Dutch who helped with the salvage then too.
As horrible as it sounds, it wouldn't surprise me. This whole horrible event has been turned into a political soapbox, with both sides pushing and pulling at each other in hopes of making the other look worse with visions of future votes dancing in their heads, rather than being handled for what it actually is - an environmental nightmare that everyone should rally together to solve before the damage is irreversible.
My husband helped pick up oiled birds back in 1967 when the Torrey Canyon oiled most of the south coast and parts of France. He says the smell was horrendous.
That was BP too - though the ship was US built and owed, registered in Liberia with a Portuguese captain. Whoever they decided to blame it ruined the Cornish fishing industry for a good few years. There's a good online article about it here (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/hu/ergsinhu/aboutergs/lasttrip.html).
That was the first of the big spills - though tiny in comparison with, say, the one in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War - and some of the European sea-going nations have got very good at dealing with them. If we're picking teams I really want the Dutch on my side, please.
The United States government told Norway "No", too, when they offered.
In my never-to-be-humble opinion, after no more than 5 days the Feds should have pulled it out from under BP (declared Marshall Law and hand BP the bill for it all) and stopped it then, instead they stood by like a traffic cop on Valium.
Since the USA is being so unbelievably irresponsible then The World needs to do that. This is not an unfortunate regional occurrence. There are scientist postulating that due to the size of the oil "field", there is every possibility that the "spill" (I hate that word - it is a freaking gushing monster, not a spill... a spill is what happens when you bump over your glass at dinner or the kid trips carrying a bowl of cereal) will spread around Florida and follow the Gulf Current up into the North Atlantic and start circling back down toward the Equator. These putzes have let this get bigger than humans can deal with already... to feed their own greed and egos.
And, as long as we are standing here watching the main generation of oxygen and support of thousands of aquatic species be blotted out, in the past week or so some idiot judge (who owns a lot of stock in oil companies) reversed the no-more-drilling-in-the-Gulf-0f-Mexico-until-we-know-how-to-deal-with-emergencies-like-this-one "moratorium" that Obama did put in place...
Why do I feel like I feel through Alice's rabbit hole?
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-30 09:11 pm (UTC)The more I hear about them recently, the more do I like Canada. Despite recent G20 messes...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-30 10:15 pm (UTC)Most of the local governments of the Gulf states are in the pockets of the oil men, its just depressing.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-30 11:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-30 10:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-30 11:44 pm (UTC)That was BP too - though the ship was US built and owed, registered in Liberia with a Portuguese captain. Whoever they decided to blame it ruined the Cornish fishing industry for a good few years. There's a good online article about it here (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/hu/ergsinhu/aboutergs/lasttrip.html).
That was the first of the big spills - though tiny in comparison with, say, the one in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War - and some of the European sea-going nations have got very good at dealing with them. If we're picking teams I really want the Dutch on my side, please.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-01 04:30 am (UTC)In my never-to-be-humble opinion, after no more than 5 days the Feds should have pulled it out from under BP (declared Marshall Law and hand BP the bill for it all) and stopped it then, instead they stood by like a traffic cop on Valium.
Since the USA is being so unbelievably irresponsible then The World needs to do that. This is not an unfortunate regional occurrence. There are scientist postulating that due to the size of the oil "field", there is every possibility that the "spill" (I hate that word - it is a freaking gushing monster, not a spill... a spill is what happens when you bump over your glass at dinner or the kid trips carrying a bowl of cereal) will spread around Florida and follow the Gulf Current up into the North Atlantic and start circling back down toward the Equator. These putzes have let this get bigger than humans can deal with already... to feed their own greed and egos.
And, as long as we are standing here watching the main generation of oxygen and support of thousands of aquatic species be blotted out, in the past week or so some idiot judge (who owns a lot of stock in oil companies) reversed the no-more-drilling-in-the-Gulf-0f-Mexico-until-we-know-how-to-deal-with-emergencies-like-this-one "moratorium" that Obama did put in place...
Why do I feel like I feel through Alice's rabbit hole?
.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-01 11:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-01 11:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-01 01:26 pm (UTC)