What would stop it naturally - running out of oil might, perhaps.
Look at the first graphic - that shows all the oil wells in the gulf by the US coast - do you really think the oil will run out soon? Nope. They aren't drilling there for nothing.
Image credit NOAA
Hat tip Open Parachute
And go here to see the extent of the disaster. You may even like to produce a google map like this
Will the oil stop flowing - I don't think so, not for years and years.
2 comments:
And probably the only reason we're even hearing about this particular spill is because it directly affects the USA. Granted that it's allegedly the largest ever spill so maybe that makes it for some reason more newsworthy, but...
From Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it: "It is impossible to know how much oil is spilled in the Niger delta each year because the companies and the government keep that secret. However, two major independent investigations over the past four years suggest that as much is spilled at sea, in the swamps and on land every year as has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico so far."
BP's nothing special as some seem to be making it out to be. Oil mega-corporations in general (all of them) would have to rate as some of the scummiest businesses in the world in terms of how they operate. They wrap and hide the damage and the corruption necessary for operating in such places, and present a tidy facade to the world for which it would be far too inconvenient to understand the full consequences.
very good points mike.
I agree if this spill was not near america we would not be hearing about it as much. It does appear to be a very severe leak and i cannot work out how they are actually going to cap it - it seems to me that we could get through some annual anniversaries with this one.
Thanks for the link - very sobering and I might put it up as a post.
from the link
"This point was backed by Williams Mkpa, a community leader in Ibeno: "Oil companies do not value our life; they want us to all die. In the past two years, we have experienced 10 oil spills and fishermen can no longer sustain their families. It is not tolerable."
With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations. Locals blame the oil that pollutes their land and can scarcely believe the contrast with the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and to protect the Louisiana shoreline from pollution."
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