Between the four US states, we must have a few members here who live and quite possibly have a standard of living due to the Gulf of Mexico..and their locality . What a Nightmare and where is it going to go in regards to the livelihood of Fisherman and the perils of all that containmentated seafood.????
also being reported that the smell of the oil will affect the health of many people as well who live near the coastline..
Tourism and Fishing and Wildlife as well as recreational sports all wiped out for thousands of Miles..

They say this might go on for months.!!  Can you image the beaches involved from CanCun Mexico to Florida West???

Looks like the Revenge of the Dinosaurs will be our downfall afterall ...

It's ridiculous that it even happened, and the fact that there weren't multiple fail-safes in place for just such a contingency.

It'll almost surely eclipse the damages of the Exxon Valdez disaster. BP will be in it for many billions in damages and reparations for years to come I'm sure. But we're talking about a company that brings in 240 billion in revenue per year.

Let's just hope a hurricane doesn't come to the region anytime soon...

Quoting specise_8472:

Quote:
I was under the impression that the only reason that they could drill so close to land, was that they had to have failsafe valves in place. Obviously they didn't, or they used the cheap "Made In China" brand.

BP has stated that there was a failsafe installed, but it failed utterly and completely.

The problem is that they installed no backup failsafe in case the one failed. Apparently they didn't want to spend an extra $500,000, and it's not a safety requirement for oil rigs in the United States. Oil companies such as Shell do routinely install them on all of their rigs wherever they may be located.

Would a second failsafe have prevented this disaster? Possibly not, but it sure wouldn't have hurt.

Everyone who was screaming Drill Baby Drill should be down there cleaning up the coastline.

BP has been ordered to Pay for All clean costs and news has it it may be as high as $12.5 Billion.

Today would be a good day to Dump all your oil shares in British Petroleum and its surrounding companies .. 

Time to reopen today :    Day 40 .. Top Kill is Not working ...  ...

Here is a by-the-numbers look at the ever-expanding oil slick and the efforts to contain it.
As cleanup crews try to cope with environmental damage already caused by the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster, oil continues to gush from the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.

$930 million US - The amount BP has spent so far to try to plug the well. This figure covers containment efforts, relief well drilling and federal government costs.

12,000-19,000 barrels - Amount of crude oil spilling into the Gulf daily, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

75 million to 162 million litres - Estimate of how much oil has leaked since the rig exploded and sank in April, killing 11 people.

41 million litres - Amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.

3.4 million litres - Amount of dispersant tipped into the Gulf to break up the oil. This amount would fill more than 100 tanker trucks.

30,000 - Barrels of mud pumped into the well in the "top kill" bid to block the oil flow.

1.1 million metres - Length of booms, or plastic barriers, used to contain the oil's spread in the Gulf.

20,000 - Personnel working on the spill.

1,400 - Response vessels.

33 - National wildlife refuges at risk due to the oil spill, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.A cattle egret with oil-stained feet walks on the deck of a supply vessel. (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)

400 - Wildlife species at risk.

491 - Dead birds collected in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas as of May 30, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Not all the deaths were necessarily caused by the oil.

227 - Dead sea turtles collected in those five states as of May 30.

27 - Dead mammals (including dolphins) collected in the five states as of May 30.

9th - Ranking of the Gulf of Mexico on the list of the world's largest bodies of water.

$661 million US - Value of the commercial fish and shellfish harvest in 2008 from the five U.S. Gulf states.

24.1 million US - Recreational fishing trips taken in the Gulf of Mexico in 2008.

$20 billion US - Value of the tourism industry in the Gulf, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

it is very upsetting. i hope they can stop the leak. i really have my doubts if they ever can. how can they not have numerous plans in place in the event something like this happened?? the eco system surely wont recover. and i still worry about 2012. is this another sign?? i really dont want to think so!