GoM Oil Disaster – UPDATE May 7

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Ground Control to Major Tom: Your Gulf Coast’s dead, there’s something wrong

Planet Earth was blue, and there’s nothing we can do!

This is Ground Control to Major Tom: We’ve really fucked up, can you go round another hundred thousand times?

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Observed From the International Space Station

Astronaut photograph from May 4 provides a different viewing perspective on the ongoing spill in the Gulf. The image is oblique, meaning that it was taken from a sideways viewing angle from the International Space Station (ISS), rather than from a “straight down” (or nadir) view, which is typical of automated satellite sensors. The view in this image is towards the west; the ISS was located over the eastern edge of the Gulf of Mexico when the image was taken.

The Mississippi River Delta and nearby Louisiana coast (image top) appear dark in the sunglint that illuminates most of the image. Sunglint is caused by sunlight reflecting off the water surface—much like a mirror—directly back towards the astronaut observer on the Space Station. The sunglint improves the identification of the oil spill. Oil on the water smoothes the surface texture, and the mirror-like reflection of the Sun accentuates the difference between the smooth, oil-covered water (dark to light gray ) and the rougher water of the reflective ocean surface (colored silver to white). Wind and water currents patterns have modified the oil spill’s original shape into streamers and elongated masses. Among the coastal ecosystems threatened by the spill are the Chandeleur Islands (image right center).  Astronaut photograph ISS023-E-32397. Caption: NASA.  [Edited for brevity.]

An aerial view of the oil leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, May 6, 2010.  Handout via Reuters/Daniel Beltra. Click image to enlarge.

BP says it will “pay all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs [sic.]”

Attorneys general from five Gulf coast states have written BP asking the company to explain which claims it will pay from the Gulf oil spill and what its intention are concerning how the payments are made.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King said the five attorneys general were  seeking detailed answers about the company’s promise to “pay all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs.”

“We don’t know what is a legitimate claim. That’s lawyer speak at a time when we need straight talk and clear answers,” King told reporters at a news conference.

Related links:

• Gulf Oil Disaster: Why Obama Was Slighted
• Obama: A Serious Self-Hater
• BP Won’t Pay – Oil Spill Update May 5
• Why BP Didn’t Care – Oil Spill Update May 4

• Obama’s energy security falls around his ankles
• Exxon Mobile Court Orders Only Fraction of Damages
• Oil Disasters

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