Gulf Oil Spill Crisis -- It may spew oil into the Gulf waters until August or later.

As we look to this picture graph, we realize there are plans to drill and set wells in waters 7,000 to 10,000 feet deep. Understand -- there are no realistic plans for dealing with oil "leaks" in these waters. Heck, we now know that we cannot deal with problematic issues similar to what is happening now in waters 6,000 feet deep and may not be able to deal with wells 3,000 feet deep. Who knows. This has to be resolved before further drilling is allowed in the deep waters off our coasts -- obviously. No more deep water drilling until we can demonstrate an accomplished leaning curve as a result of the current crisis -- jds.


Adm. Thad Allen, Coast Guard, held a press conference today -- in fact it is continuing as we write. In this conference, it is clear that A), the well will not be capped until August or later. The 800 pound guerrilla in all this is the depth of the drill - more than a mile down to the mouth of the well (the well is another 6 miles deep). It has become obvious that the oil companies have had no plans whatsoever for dealing with this sort of problem at such depths. Why did the Federal government not know this? Why was BP given a safety award, recently, by the Obama administration? And will the American people give Obama a pass when whines, "How could I know?" . B) In an interview between Shepard Smith (FoxNews) and David Axelrod it was revealed that the commission recently put together by Obama to consider the different aspects of this problem is giving attention to the environmental regulations forcing deep water wells of a mile or more - an implicit admission that the "depth" is a separate and critical concern. C) Further, from remarks from the same interview, it is clear that no one knows how much oil is being released into the Gulf. This information may not be known before this weekend - after more than 35 days. D) We cannot call this the "worst eco-disaster in American history" only because the oil spill has not reached land as of yet. Some came ashore yesterday, but the larger spill has not arrived. When it does, make no mistake, this is going to be catastrophic beyond words. Understand that there are some experts that believe this well will never be closed off.

A few days ago, Midknight Review allowed for the possibility that the "light crude" spilling into the Gulf might not be as serious a problem as some had suggested. Light crude or not, we no longer believe that this is a valid consideration. We have officially joined the "sky is falling, the sky is falling" crowd on this particular matter.

Midknight Review has no words to describe the failure that is this eco-accident. The political battle will include Obama's do-nothing stance - obviously hoping to blame Bush or BP for the problem when, in fact, he has sat on his thumbs, hoping, we think , to make political hay out of the issue. Understand that the second this oil spill came within 12 miles of our shore line, it became a Federal problem and the Feds have had legal discretion / authority since that time. Rather than use that authority, Obama and company claim they have no authority to act while refusing Louisiana from taking action as a separate governmental entity.
.