theleftcoast.ca

In the can-you-believe-it-file, it has already been two months that oil has been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. From the Boston dot com website;

62 days have passed since the initial explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the crude oil and natural gas continue to gush from the seafloor. Re-revised estimates now place the flow rate at up to 60,000 barrels a day – a figure just shy of a worst-case estimate of 100,000 barrels a day made by BP in an internal document recently released by a congressional panel. Louisiana’s state treasurer has estimated environmental and economic damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could range from $40 billion to $100 billion.

That is $40- $100 billion and yet they have set aside a comparatively measly $20 billion. The rip-off continues. And will continue. To see the pictures that go along with this horrific situation, visit the Boston.com. Be prepared to be shocked, sickened, angered and disgusted.

From our Twitter feed we saw this little gem about the tragedy of the ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico;

RT @LiberalHitGirl: I didn’t look today, did the free market clean up the oil yet?

What a horrifying and disgusting mess of unimaginable magnitude this oil spill has become. And there is still no end in sight to the continuing spilling. Tragic beyond words.

The following information came to us from the Avaaz community. I encourage you to read and act.

Imagine, everyday there is another 2,500,000 gallons of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

Before the spill, U.S. President Obama and Congressional leaders were planning to ramp up offshore drilling. Now, with the spill, the politics have shifted — and an opportunity has opened for the world’s biggest historical climate polluter to shift away from oil and towards climate-safe energy sources.

At a moment like this, when leaders are making up their minds, the world’s voices can help tip the balance. There is a movement afoot to tip that balance away from allowing the destruction of more of land and water. There is a petition circulating that urges the U.S. to stop offshore drilling and to instead invest in clean renewable energy. Once that petition reaches 500,000 it will be delivered to the White House in Washington DC.

To add your name to that petition visit;

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_offshore_drilling_3/?vl

This disaster is expected to be catastrophic for the land and people in the gulf. The oil has already reached land, contaminating wildlife sanctuaries. Authorities are so concerned about the impacts of more oil reaching land that they are prefer to set the gulf on fire, burning as much of the oil as possible.

Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry is raking in windfall profits. BP, which operated the sunken rig, more than doubled its first quarter profits in 2010 to $5.65 billion.

For years, the world has waited for the U.S. to step up on climate. But with the carbon lobby’s strangle-hold on Washington, we’ve had more drilling in place of stronger investment in cleaner, safer energy sources. It’s time to for a change — Senator Bill Nelson of Florida has already introduced legislation to repeal plans to expand offshore drilling. Let’s back him up with an outpouring of global public outrage. Sign the petition calling on President Obama and Congress to end offshore drilling, and take the US and the world to clean energy future:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_offshore_drilling_3/?vl

When you think about lifting the moratorium on off-shore oil exploration and drilling along the BC coast, have a quick peak at what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico.

And consider that British Petroleum was one of the organizations that was arguing against using the underwater auto-shut-off system that is currently required. The same system that was in place on the oil rig that burned, collapsed, and sank in the Gulf of Mexico just a few days ago. The same system that has failed and is now allowing several thousand barrels a day to pump from the underwater reservoir up into the Gulf of Mexico creating an oil slick some 1550 square kilometres in size that is moving towards the Louisiana shoreline.

Think about that when environmental disaster when you think about lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling along the BC coastline.