Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010   Tags: deepwater_horizon, environment, oil_spill  

Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause.

Congressional Digest reports on pros and cons, background and verbatim arguments of legislation before Congress, each issue dealing with one law under consideration.

From the GREENR database (note: requires login off campus).

"[T]housands of minor and several major oil spills related to well discharges and tanker operations are reported each year, with the total quantity of oil released annually into the world's oceans exceeding 1 million tons."

McKibben highlights the damage done by the "oil slick you can't see," the rising acidity in our oceans.

The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Underlying all of our efforts is a fundamental belief that increased transparency will improve the public's confidence in government.

BP's page on the Gulf of Mexico spill.

The Average Car vs. the Average Human.

"An infographic to help you understand the oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and the incredible costs that will affect us all."

As the nation’s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has been on the scene of the Deepwater Horizon spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations.

Jennifer Jacquet is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Daniel Pauly and the Sea Around Us Project at the UBC Fisheries Centre. In this blog post, she discusses the similarities and differences between the two most notorious US oil spills.

In mid-May, Marc Gauthier, Evergreen State College graduate in natural resources management, former owner of Natural Start Bakery, and creator of “From Controversy to Common Ground: The Colville National Forest Story,” headed southeast from Spokane. His goal was to try and make sense of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster that’s spewing 210,000 gallons a day.

EPA is monitoring the air for any chemicals or compounds that may be in the air as a result of the oil spill or from the controlled burn to manage the spill. We are monitoring the air in real time for particulate matter as well as taking more specific chemical measurements for volatile organic compounds that require lab analysis.

The Gulf of Mexico, the ninth largest body of water in the world and referred to as the "Mediterranean of the Americas," is located at the southeastern corner of North America. The Gulf is bordered by the United States to the north (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas), five Mexican states to the west (Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan), and the island of Cuba to the southeast.

The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm.
by John McQuaid for Environment 360

Interactive map of the oil spill and landfall of the oil.

From OpenCRS, Congressional Research Reports for the People.

Informational graphic published by PBS.org from May 3, 2010 giving the rundown of the oil spill's statistics.

As efforts to plug the leak and clean up the damages continue, it is not too soon to begin to draw lessons from this disaster. We need to learn from this experience so we can prevent future oil spills, reevaluate society’s current trajectory, and set a better course.

A diagram of BP's attempts to drill a relief well.

"Devastating comparisons and facts."

The following is a White House fact sheet released Wednesday regarding the BP escrow funds to pay claims to workers and businesses impacted by the Gulf oil spill.

Jon Sopel presents the BBC News special - BP: Capping the crisis, which will have the latest political and market reaction in a special live programme.