Deeptrouble, May 30th, 2010: No end in sight as colossal ecological disaster gets worse
Welcome to the first installment of Deeptrouble, a new NPI Advocate special series intended to visually chronicle the immense devastation wrought on the Gulf Coast by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
As readers know, it's now been more than a month since this colossal ecological catastrophe began, and there is still in no end in sight.
The purpose of this series is to help keep this tragedy fresh in our minds, and in our civic consciousness, as the days stretch on and the disaster gets worse. For those of us here in the Pacific Northwest, living thousands of miles away from the Gulf, it's hard to fully comprehend the scope of the calamity through words alone.
That's why, starting today, we will be bringing you a new image of the spill every day, along with a quick review of the latest developments, until the gusher that is polluting our ocean has been stopped.
Today's photo was taken by Jeffrey Dubinsky for Gulf Restoration Network from aboard an aircraft flying over Lousiana's Redfish Bay last Thursday. (Click on the thumbnail to see a full size version of the image).
So far, repeated attempts to shut off the flow of oil from the seafloor using a variety of different ideas have all resulted in failure, which means that millions of liters of gooey petroleum continue to rise to the surface every day. And that gooey petroleum is leaving a horrible mess when it washes ashore. Just looking at it is disgusting.
In a statement released by the White House last night, President Obama disclosed that the administration has authorized Baleful Petroleum to move forward with the latest scheme for stopping the gusher: cutting the riser pipe and fitting a containment structure over the leak.
"This approach is not without risk and has never been attempted before at this depth," the President observed. "That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted. It will be difficult and will take several days."
"It is also important to note that while we were hopeful that the top kill would succeed, we were also mindful that there was a significant chance it would not. And we will continue to pursue any and all responsible means of stopping this leak until the completion of the two relief wells currently being drilled."
As readers know, it's now been more than a month since this colossal ecological catastrophe began, and there is still in no end in sight.
The purpose of this series is to help keep this tragedy fresh in our minds, and in our civic consciousness, as the days stretch on and the disaster gets worse. For those of us here in the Pacific Northwest, living thousands of miles away from the Gulf, it's hard to fully comprehend the scope of the calamity through words alone.
That's why, starting today, we will be bringing you a new image of the spill every day, along with a quick review of the latest developments, until the gusher that is polluting our ocean has been stopped.
Today's photo was taken by Jeffrey Dubinsky for Gulf Restoration Network from aboard an aircraft flying over Lousiana's Redfish Bay last Thursday. (Click on the thumbnail to see a full size version of the image). So far, repeated attempts to shut off the flow of oil from the seafloor using a variety of different ideas have all resulted in failure, which means that millions of liters of gooey petroleum continue to rise to the surface every day. And that gooey petroleum is leaving a horrible mess when it washes ashore. Just looking at it is disgusting.
In a statement released by the White House last night, President Obama disclosed that the administration has authorized Baleful Petroleum to move forward with the latest scheme for stopping the gusher: cutting the riser pipe and fitting a containment structure over the leak.
"This approach is not without risk and has never been attempted before at this depth," the President observed. "That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted. It will be difficult and will take several days."
"It is also important to note that while we were hopeful that the top kill would succeed, we were also mindful that there was a significant chance it would not. And we will continue to pursue any and all responsible means of stopping this leak until the completion of the two relief wells currently being drilled."
# Posted by Andrew : 10:36 AM
Comments:
Post a Comment