America's greatest ecological disaster

The DeepHorizon rig fire

Since the Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sank ten days ago, there have been fears that the US would been hit by a major oil slick devastating the coast's ecology and economy. Today, those fears came to pass.

Despite attempts to seal the leak, over 5000 barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf Coast per day since the BP-operated rig exploded and then sank. Since then every agency from the Coast Guard to the US Navy has been deployed to try and avert a devastating environmental disaster.

A state of emergency has been declared and President Barack Obama has pledged "every single available resource" to help the state of Louisiana, where oil has already begun to wash ashore. The oil spill is expected to devastate fisheries and wildlife preserves along hundreds of miles of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Clean-up efforts

With the slick said to be larger than the island of Jamaica, clean-up efforts are on a massive scale with everything from dispersants to burning the slick being tried to prevent more damage.

Speaking to reporters, David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said "This is a very, very big thing and the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."

With Louisiana soldiers to help with the clean up, the potential for a massive blow to the economy is huge. The states on the coast rely on the Gulf for both food and tourism. As such, fishermen were allowed to bring in their catches earlier before the oil arrive to soil their wares. There are fears the oil could irreparably damage the shrimp population as well as the oyster beds that are renowned in Louisiana.

National response

President Obama clearly feels the national significance of the spill and has dispatched high-level administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, to the area to make an inspection.

Inspections of all offshore oil rigs and platforms by environmental agency officials have also be ordered. It will no doubt be a major blow to the Obama administration after they reversed the national stance on offshore drilling.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Obama said, "While BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and clean-up operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal, including potentially the Department of Defence, to address the incident."

"And I have ordered the Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security, as well as Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency to visit the site on Friday to ensure that BP and the entire US government is doing everything possible, not just to respond to this incident, but also to determine its cause."

And what have BP said? After all, they do rent the rig. Despite the company saying they are working on a "relief well" to intersect the original well, not much is being done. Under US law, all clean up costs will be paid by them, but right now working out how to contain the spill is the main concern. The relief well idea is experimental and could take two to three months to stop the flow.Other plans such as using a dome to cover the oil will also take weeks to implement.

For now, the US government is going to have to brace itself for a disaster on an epic scale.

Breaking News (04/30/2010 12:49 UK)

The US administration has banned oil drilling in new areas of the US coast pending investigations into the cause of the oil spill off Louisiana.

"No additional drilling has been authorised and none will until we find out what happened," White House adviser David Axelrod has told ABC television.

Relevant articles:

Obama green lights offshore drilling? | Gulf oil spill latest | Louisiana oil rig blaze leaves at least ...

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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