BP’s Next Plan

Digital rendering by BP engineers showing their next plan for stopping the leak in the Gulf

Now they’re just working on building the applicator.  The next challenge will be how to operate the plunger after positioning it a mile underwater.

I joke about this because the whole thing is so horrifying.  They still haven’t come clean on how much oil is escaping from this leak and the possibility is good that by the time they can drill a relief well, the loop current will have picked up the oil and fouled not just the Louisiana coast, but the entire Gulf coast and East coast as well, as the loop current picks up the oil and spreads it all the way to Greenland – and possibly beyond.  Something that hasn’t been widely discussed in the media is that this oil field is the second-largest known reserve in the world; it could continue spewing indefinitely if they don’t get it stopped.  If that happens, the Mayans may have been right about 2012.

Meanwhile, our news media is more concerned about whether our President is showing enough “emotion” about the issue, and whether or not this is “Obama’s Katrina.”  I suppose that comparison would be apt, had FEMA been tasked with delivering supplies and aid one mile below the ocean surface.  We’ve heard a lot from the “get gubmint OUT OF OUR LIVES” bunch, suggesting that fixing this private corporation fuck-up should be under the purview of the federal government.  That’s right – government has no business being involved in health care, but it should have a fleet of deep-sea submersibles and engineers on staff to cover this sort of thing.  As always with this crowd, it’s privatize the profits and socialize the costs.

The one good thing about this catastrophe, and you have to look hard to find one, is the recent absence of all things Cheney from the public arena.  As the man most responsible for making sure the oil companies didn’t have to overly burden themselves with the needless costs of safety and environmental protections and a former CEO of Halliburton, you can see why Dick’s keeping his head low.  But it’s kept his odious spawn Mary Liz  (sorry, wrong odious Cheney spawn originally cited) under wraps as well, perhaps because she doesn’t want to talk about how dear old dad’s negligence destroyed a third of the nation’s coastline and fishing industry.  I’m not sure this should be a worry for either of them, because a media so obsessed with trying to find blame with the current President for the unspeakable offense of not being Aquaman is not likely to ask them any embarrassing questions – it would be so uncivil.  I mean, it’s not like “Drill, Baby, Drill!” has been put on the spot by anyone for her dumbassery in the wake of this disaster.

So it seems we’ve traded one type of toxic spew for another.

It’s not much, but it’s something, and with the way this thing is playing out, it may be the only silver lining we’ll find.

Update:  Elsewhere on the internets, I am seeing the suggestion that the Gulf be re-named “Lake Palin.”  That’s cute, but not really accurate.  “Lake Cheney” is much more appropriate; it would honor the individual most responsible for creating the noxious brew where the Gulf of Mexico used to be.  Ah, the Bush administration… it’s the gift that keeps on giving.  Like herpes.