Spill baby spill, slippery politics

I agree it's certainly one of the worst, but as this article in the New York Times points out, we may have to wait until it's over to determine where it really ranks.

Quote:

Where Gulf Spill Might Place on the Roll of Disasters


Oil spills, too, seem to be judged more by their effect on people than on the environment. Consider the Lakeview Gusher, which was almost certainly a worse oil spill, by volume, than the one continuing in the gulf.

In the southern end of California’s San Joaquin Valley, an oil rush was on in the early decades of the 20th century. On March 14, 1910, a well halfway between the towns of Taft and Maricopa, in Kern County, blew out with a mighty roar.

It continued spewing huge quantities of oil for 18 months. The version of events accepted by the State of California puts the flow rate near 100,000 barrels a day at times. “It’s the granddaddy of all gushers,” said Pete Gianopulos, an amateur historian in the area.

The ultimate volume spilled was calculated at 9 million barrels, or 378 million gallons. According to the highest government estimates, the Deepwater Horizon spill is not yet half that size.

The Lakeview oil was penned in immense pools by sandbags and earthen berms, and nearly half was recovered and refined by the Union Oil Company. The rest soaked into the ground or evaporated. Today, little evidence of the spill remains, and outside Kern County, it has been largely forgotten. That is surely because the area is desert scrubland, and few people were inconvenienced by the spill.

That sets it apart from the Deepwater Horizon leak. The environmental effects of the gulf spill remain largely unknown. But the number of lives disrupted is certainly in the thousands, if not the tens of thousands; the paychecks lost in industries like fishing add up to millions; and the ultimate cost will be counted in billions.

Even with all that pain, can it yet be called the nation’s worst environmental disaster?

“My take,” said William W. Savage Jr., a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma, “is that we’re not going to be able to tell until it’s over.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/science/earth/19enviro.html?hp

Man is himself the greatest cause of all environmental disastors.

The article appeared to be apologetic, and wanted to smother the flames of anger. Although the (possible) facts brought out was quite educative, at least to this poster.

It must be tough, after 60 days of this spill, for a paper to find something "fresh" to write about. The Times article was, to me, interesting but hardly breaking news. I was not aware of the incident in CA in 1910.

I just wonder WHO is advising Obama on this and why nothing seems to be happening.
I am puzzled! He looks as though he isn't making the decisions.

It is simply our misfortune to have elected a nice-looking, well-spoken, but largely inexperienced idealogue to our presidency at a time in which the country faces serious challenges that would tax the wisdom and abilities of a much better man.