Saturday evening I watched Mike Huckabee on Fox News. I'm not a very big fan of Huckabee, but he had a very interesting show Saturday. It was different from some of his normal Saturday evening shows. It was a special show where he had a panel of experts who were demonstrating methods of oil clean-up. There were different experts using various methods to clean the oil that was floating on top of water in an aquarium. One guest used a chemical compound which was white and he spread it on top of the oil. It turned the oil into a clay like substance. He scooped it out with his hands then he took some of that water to pour it through a coffee filter. Huckabee was drinking it to demonstrate that it was safe to drink after the oil was removed and the water was placed through a filter. Another guest was using hay as a demonstration to remove the oil from the water in the tank. It was successful. There was also another expert that used hair as a means to soak up the oil. Then toward the end of the program, they showed a machine which could be used to siphon the oil from the water. It would also soak up the water along with the oil, but at least, it would siphon that oil from the ocean. The question I have is why aren't some of these methods being used to help contain the oil spill? Why does there appear to be a lack of urgency from both BP and the federal government to help clean up this mess?
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel stated last year that they don't want to see a crisis go to waste. In other words, they want to take the opportunity to exploit the crisis. I made the statement on an April 30th post about the oil spill that the White House and Congress will try to use this oil spill as an opportunity to pass cap and trade legislation, which is something they've been trying to do since last year. The government will thrive on a crisis as an excuse to pass legislation to further restrict the freedoms of the American people. There is plenty of blame to spread around. BP's at fault for violating safety standards when drilling this deep oil well. They took short cuts which proved to be lethal, and now many fishermen's livelihood off the Gulf Coast has been wiped out due to this catastrophic oil spill. There have been estimate adjustments on how much oil has been spewing into the Gulf. It's foolish that BP didn't have some type of plan in case this rig was to malfunction. Drilling for oil is risky business and there must be a plan B to fall back on in case a rig malfunctions. This oil disaster is going to be an ecological nightmare. This will affect the fishing industry, the ecosystem, wildlife, and possibly tourism on the beaches in the Gulf Coast for many years to come. It's disgraceful. Another terrible thing about this incident is hurricane season is now in full sway. If we have some terrible hurricanes this year, just imagine the environmental damage that will be wreaked upon the cities along the Gulf Coast. Oil will spread everywhere with that hurricane. The oil could go up into the atmosphere in the midst of any major hurricane this year. It could affect weather patterns possibly. I can't say with certainty, but I'm certain if oil heads up into the air in the midst of a hurricane, it's going to disturb weather patterns. This is a disaster in the making.
If there aren't some major efforts utilized to stop the further spread of this oil leak, then the oil could reach into the Eastern seaboard. Oil already has been spotted close to the beaches in Pensacola, Florida. The oil has already reached Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida along the Gulf Coast. The problem we have is that the government and the oil industry have a cozy relationship with one another regardless of political party affiliation. Any time you have government and major corporations aligned with one another, there's always corruption involved. The federal government may not be able to stop the leak, but they should have navy vessels and the Coast Guard dispatched to help further stop the spreading of oil. The Department of Homeland Security should be involved as well. That should be common sense. We don't want to see this oil spread along the Eastern Seaboard. The spill is almost out of control as it is if not already.
I want to acknowledge there have been groups that have been working tirelessly to help contain this oil spill. We need all the cooperation we can to stop the further spread of this leak. The government needs to step in because this is a national emergency on the Gulf Coast. It could take years to restore the wildlife and marine life along the Gulf Coast. Many fishermen will be out of a job due to the procrastination of the federal government and BP to prevent the oil from spreading. In any manufacturing center in America that has machines that use hydraulic oil, they have a containment policy where if there's an oil leak, that leak must be contained immediately, not two weeks later. When the rig exploded and the oil started gushing out, there should've been Coast Guard and navy vessels at the spot where Deepwater Horizon exploded using whatever method was possible to prevent the oil spill from spreading. That was pure negligence as far as I'm concerned. This whole incident stinks to high Heavens. The federal government delayed the response effort a little too long.
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