You guys are right that we all currently depend on petrolum for our daily lives. I would imagine where we disagree though is on how much government investment should be spent on developing alternatives.

Yes, buying petroleum costs less "out of pocket" than just about any alternative at the moment. However, I would be curious to see what the real price is when all the externalized costs are also factored in, i.e. maintaining a standing army in the middle-east, financing wars in parts of the world we wouldn't give two-$hits about if they weren't oil-producing regions, environmental cleanup, lost jobs and income resulting from environmental disasters, etc.

Gas costs alot more than the $2.86 I paid at the pump this morning.

Seems like since they make so much money, the oil companies could afford some sort of back up system for when something like this happens.

More like about 10-15 years. A heck of alot more oil was loose on America's gulf and east coast shores in 1942-1943, and pretty much all of that was cleaned up by simple natural processes. Thankfully, intense sunlight will do for Louisiana and other southern latitudes what it couldn't do rapidly in the case of the Exxon Valdez spill.

The biggest concern for me is that this disaster affects alot of hard working, presently-employed fisherman, crabbers, and shrimpers in the area.

Also, I wonder why the safety device on the rig failed. There is supposed to be a device that closes a valve at the base of the flow in the event the rig or pipe is disconnected. The one in the Gulf failed. Another one failed with that Australian rig blowout a couple years back. These things need to be re-engineered, or some sort of backup system needs to be emplaced.

Walt,
I was actually reading an article the other day that answered that very question (although I am having trouble finding it now).

It is possible to extract oil mixed with seawater, and in fact, when oil is extracted by ocean rigs, it comes up already mixed with a fair amount of seawater that must be drawn out.

The problem is that these oil slicks can be hundreds of miles wide and are moving. It would take thousands of ships to even make a dent in them.

The wonderful thing about Mother Earth is she will take care of herself but it will take several lifetimes to correct this wrong. The problem is in those several lifetimes this will happen again.

idaho deer hunter, have you heard the song have you forgotten by darryl worley? that applies to your little dealio. some times the simplest of things can make all the difference, but the bigger things can make it so there is no difference at all. This oil spill could even effect my duck season in vermont and i'm 14. what wil the world be like when im 40? huh? there are alot of things that have the potential of being fixed, and i plan to try to do just that. God bless America.

Absolutely horrendous....Unless there is a major change in philosophy this will occur over and over again.

This thing could have been prevented by a simple aucouticly activated safetyvalve down on the seafloor. and here in norway and even in england its mandatory to have one, except for usa where the oil idustry opposed it cos they thought it could never happen to them..
Kinda makes u think who really runs the country where an industry can make such decisions as that, and that can affect soo many people, theire livelihood and all of the nature thats gonna be waylaid by this..
500000 more profit for the company= how much money and work in cleanup?????

Do they actually have sturgeon in Iran?

I'm with Mike on this one. The Gulf has natural seepage of oil in the low thousands of barrels a day. Sunlight, the warm water, and naturally evolved microorganisms keep down the effects of the seepage. Prince William Sound is a cold water area which limits biological recovery due to the shorter growing season and lower metabolic rates of the indigenous microorganisms. That being said this sucks. The fact that Katrina caused so little damage in the Gulf lulled me into having too much faith in the system. If we are going to drill, we have to be able to stop blowouts from happening. Absolutely we must not repeat this kind of spill.

I get a little cynical when everyone calls for more government to solve problems. Was it three years ago when the Madoff scandal broke? How could this criminal escape the SEC? Now we find out that SEC computers don't work efficiently because they're filled with porn.
All of you calling for a boycott of BP are asking that we put a bunch of neighbors out of business. These are independent small businesses who have now say in how or where this oil is extracted.

It was just a matter of time.

When I lived near there, I knew some of those guys that worked the rigs.

The "accident" will probably be traced to some guy lighting a cigarette in the wrong place or leaning up against a valve in a dark corner while hiding from his boss.

The rigs are loaded with too many people, and most of them are as smart as rocks.

"Thousand a week hide-and-seek."

It will be interesting to see how they diffuse the blame on this one.

I have to agree with b.daddy, we all need to stop pointing the finger of blame at everyone. When something is manmade, there is an inherent risk factor. Always has been and always will be. Space Shuttles blow up and nuclear reactors melt down and have devastating effects on people and the environment. We all go to the pump every week and complain about the price of gas as well as the security of our nation because of our dependency on foreign oil. Many of our major achievements come from some accident or misfortune causing the need for advancements in technology. Advancements will happen but it all takes time. The folks who point the finger of blame should do so while looking into the mirror because we are all responsible. We want cheap gas, cheap heating and cooling and expect it to come to us with absolutely no risk to mankind or the environment. That is not going to happen. We all use the stuff and we all have to pay the price. It’s an unfortunate accident and it’s going to affect lots of people and wildlife and will be felt by all in one way or another. What we need to do is pull together to help clean up this mess and calmly look to the future to for ways to mitigate the possibilities of further accidents. My heart goes out to all the local folks who will suffer the most, and the wildlife that will be lost.

Face facts. We are slaves to fossil fuels. Big Oil's "technology" is greed based, always has been, always will be. Without fail-safe redundencies built in to the present "technology" for finding, capturing and the efficient transportation of crude, we will all suffer the consequences...all of us humans AND the fragile eco-system that gives up the precious black death we are all addicted to. Why did we not WAIT and DEMAND that Big Oil (BP) prove that they would be able to control any "catastrophic event" during their operations? On April 9, 2010, Caribou Barbie said, "Drill Baby, Drill...no more Wait Baby, Wait." That's right, that was the very same voice of the conservative right, the very same woman you voted for...Sarah Palin. British Petroleum will pay the monetary cost of the Gulf clean up but if elected in 2012, who will pay to clean up after Palin and her thugs?

A boycott against B.P. will not do any good! When we purchase a gallon of gasoline or a quart of oil we never know which company drilled or refined the product. When I drove a fuel tanker before I retired 90% of the fuel in north Florida, South Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana was drilled in the Gulf of Mexico, most off shore La. It was then taken to the Chevron refinery in Ms. After this it was barged to every terminal on the gulf coast. A great example was the Union 76 Terminal in Pensacola, Fl. Every tanker truck from 100 miles filled up there then delivered to every major & independent gasoline retailer in the 100 mi. area. Whether Exxon, Citgo, Chevron, Circle K, or any private owned gas pump. If you boycott B.P. you will have to stop purchasing any type of petroleum product of any brand. I am not saying I like B.P., or any other hugh Company, it's just such a hugh business they are all connected in some way. Let's fact it, the spill is a major disaster and the oil companies have us hooked. Let's just pray for a miracle in this matter and understand that no one may or company can fix it. It will take a much HIGHER POWER than we as humans have.

I longer buy anything at BP gas stations.

Planetresource.net has a Eco friendly solution to clean up the tragedy British Petroleum has created, please watch the video animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60bdQQQ3iVw and pass this along to as many people as you know.

One person can still make a difference in this world, is that simple interactions have a rippling effect. Each time this gets pass along, the hope in cleaning our planet is passed on.

Well this ought to shove our gas prices up around 6.00 a gallon or higher, just in time for the mid-term elections, makes you wonder if it wasn't planned!! Why would a 4 billion dollar drilling platform skip on a $500,000.00 dollar saftey valve that might have prevented this?? How much does that valve cost now??Although americans in this region will suffer right along with the enviroment for years to come at least Michelle

Since the Obama administrations biggest response to the oil spill so far has been to send an army of lawyers,the best we can hope for is that all the lawyers are on a boat,looking at the spill,when someone decides it's time to try to burn off the oil again.
Then,with all the lawyers out of the way,something could be done to actually clean up the spill.

I hate to be a conspiracy theorist here but it seems kind of ironic that this should happen within days of Obama declaring that off shore drilling would be open again.
I wouldn't put it past any of the so called eco-friendly environmental groups. Is it that far fetched to believe that they would sabotage an oil rigs and kill a few dozen people and millions of animals and ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands just to make their point? I think that when the investigation of the disaster is over (if ever) they will find some sort of foul play involved.

Well this ought to shove our gas prices up around 6.00 a gallon or higher, just in time for the mid-term elections, makes you wonder if it wasn't planned!! Why would a 4 billion dollar drilling platform skip on a $500,000.00 dollar saftey valve that might have prevented this?? How much does that valve cost now??Although americans in this region will suffer right along with the enviroment for years to come at least Michelle Obama will be able to get her caviar from Iran!! How American is that?