Gulf oil spill

As far as the politics goes, I've been mostly ignoring the stories about the Gulf oil spill, because far greater minds than mine are all over it like a cheap suit. However, with all the talk about BP this, and BP that, where does the rig operator, Transocean, figure in all the media hype? Why doesn't President Obama talk about 'kicking their ass', or is his only real skill spoon fed rhetoric? Perhaps it's easier to focus on a foreign multinational than an American company suspected of pushing the envelope. As in Hollywood, the best villains always have British accents.

There is also the issue of an estimated twenty seven thousand abandoned wells in the gulf area. BP own 600 of these, many more are owned by companies like Chevron, and occasionally, deep draught barges bump into them. Although I would have thought abandoned oil wells should be properly marked on nautical charts so that seaborne traffic can steer clear. Then again, maybe that's just me being too much of an optimist in these matters. Human nature being what it is.

Perhaps there's even a case for reopening said abandoned wells with more modern oil recovery technology. After all, the wells are already there. Keep the rigs and recovery platforms closer inshore, and drill laterally. Providing ownership of mineral rights could be established / bought of course, as ownership of some of these wells is sometimes hard to establish. Who owns the abandoned well of a bankrupt oil company? Who do the rights revert to? The State? The Federal authorities? Could the pollution from these abandoned wells be turned into valuable resources? Just a thought.

Current satellite photo's of the spill, to back up the 'Where's the oil gone?' articles can be found here at the NASA website. Other news and images can be found via the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries web site.

There is much talk of 'devastation' to the gulf fisheries, but if that's true, why are said fisheries being reopened? Interesting, n'est-ce pas?