They’ve tried plugging it, clogging it, cutting it, and as of last Friday capping it. With fingers crossed, this last ditch effort was their last and only hope. But as of this past weekend, BP’s efforts to halt the constant flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico has failed!
Now, perplexed and defeated officials have been forced to admit that BP’s ruptured well will linger in the Gulf of Mexico until at least August, or perhaps later, prompting the U.S. government to seek more equipment to help prevent the crude coming ashore, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said.
“This is a siege across the entire Gulf,” Allen, who is in charge of the government response to the leak, said yesterday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” broadcast.
“There will be oil out there for months. This will be well into the fall.”
President Obama has faced a sea of criticism recently for his perceived detachment from the initial leak when the accident happened in April, killing 11. But the White House has fought back against such charges, calling them outrageous and pointing out the president first chose to allow BP to handle the disaster since they were best set-up to handle such a crisis. The president’s engagement was also noted when he made a 2nd trip to the region a few days ago and extended an invitation to the White House to the families of those who were killed.
Surely the finger pointing and blame game is just beginning and will extend for many years to come. But the stark reality remains that no one really knows how to stop the leak, which is already considered the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Regrettably, the only likely option now is to wait it out and allow nature to cease the spill in time. But the devastation to the Gulf is already beyond cataclysmic proportions, and that region will likely never recover or ever be the same. BP has already taken a huge public relations hit, with the chairman making a flippant statement that “he wants his life back” being seen as insensitive to the families of those killed who can never get their lives back. Also, boycott’s of BP oil are being organized nationwide, with one station in New York City having its sign smeared with oil to emphasize growing disdain toward the petroleum company. But that might only be the beginning of their troubles, since once the myriad of private and governmental lawsuits begin to roll over BP, the petroleum company could be forced into financial ruin and non-existence. Only time will tell.
The real damage to the Gulf and those people won't be seen for years. But it will be beyond devestating. So sad.