I don’t think President Barack Obama’s administration has done a very good job of handling the BP oil spill that is ruining our Gulf Coast and threatening our Eastern Seaboard, however the EPA has done a good job of providing news updates on their website, at this link, in English, Vietnamese and Spanish.
The website uses Google map and Flickr photo technology, which I use here at the Orange Juice. And the updates include information on air, water and sediment pollution.
For example, here is their latest Air Data:
EPA’s air monitoring conducted through June 5, 2010, has found that air quality levels for ozone and particulates are normal on the Gulf coastline for this time of year.
EPA has observed odor-causing pollutants associated with petroleum products along the coastline at low levels. Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea. People may be able to smell some of these chemicals at levels well below those that would cause short-term health problems.
The good news reported today is that “BP’s containment cap is capturing an increasing amount of oil spewing from a ruptured Gulf of Mexico well, but the U.S. admiral leading the government relief effort said on Sunday the coast will be under siege from the massive spill for many more months,” according to Reuters.
Despite the progress, Allen told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program: “This will only end when we intercept the wellbore, pump mud down it to overcome the pressure of the oil coming up from the reservoir and put a cement plug in …”
“This will be well into the fall,” he said. “This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage, not only economically but physically, and it has to be attacked on all fronts.”
If the Obama administration told what the future would be like in the gulf, they’d probably have to call out the Natonal Guard to stop the rioting because that area will never be cleaned of oil to any great extent. It will always be there, just below the surface of the sand or mud, and maybe out of sight but still there. Anyone living with 5-25 miles of the gulf coast should probably just move as soon as possible – any significan recovery won’t come for less than 50+ years if ever. Don’t think so? – then take a look at the Exon Valdez spill in Alaska and how that area has fared.