bp oil spill map update

Deepwater Horizon is the offshore rig British Petroleum (BP) was using to drill for oil when it bursts into flames in April. The rig has continued to leak oil for the last six weeks despite massive and continual efforts to plug the leak. Not surprisingly, public opinion of BP has dropped sharply. In light of the growing environmentalism in the United States, could there have been a worse time to enlarge your company’s carbon footprint?

The movement toward environmentalism and being more aware of the damage we’re doing to the environment has driven interest in calculating and reducing our carbon footprint. (Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases you are emitting through your activities.)

The recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill prompted Obama to speak on the carbon footprint being left by industries. He said, “The only way the transition to clean energy will succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future.” Based upon the ramifications of the Deepwater Horizon spill, BP’s environmental awareness is fairly low. Although CEO Tony Hayward recently vowed to “make this right,” he also appears to be underestimating the damage the explosion and subsequent spill will cause. He told a crowd of cameras that the impact would be “very, very modest.” Yet experts tell us the entire Eastern seaboard will suffer damage and waters will be permeated with oil.

Many Americans are questioning the government’s environmentalism since it is now believed that deep drilling was permitted while the public was told otherwise. Many argue this tragedy, which has already claimed 11 human lives and hundreds of animals, who make their home in the Gulf of Mexico waters and shores, would never have happened if the company wasn’t drilling so deeply. Others note that the spill has yet to be contained, in part, because of the depth of the drilling.

Former EPA chief, Christine Todd Whitman, has called this recent oil spill a call to “environmental awareness” for the whole country and said this was a “teachable moment.” Environmentalist the across globe have been nagging the public for years to reduce its carbon footprint and become less dependent upon fossil fuels. Many feel that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a predictable outcome of our consumer culture.

An investigation has been launched into the causes of the explosion. In fact, President Obama has approved a bipartisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

Cleanup efforts are ongoing. Originally, BP was optimistic that they could contain the leak and clean up the oil, but as time has dragged on the public has lost faith in their abilities. The U.S. Military has joined cleanup efforts and work continues to persist. Although more than 100,000 feet of containment booms were placed in an effort to keep the spill from contaminating the Mississippi River, high winds drove the oil into its mouth.

The full impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill cannot be fully assessed at this time.