In an ironic twist, the Obama administration's attempt to win moderate support for a climate/energy bill by allowing drilling for oil in Federal waters off the Gulf and East coasts may end up dooming its chances, now that the Gulf Coast is facing what may be the worst oil spill in American history.
That's according to a story in today's Huffington Post:
The images of last week's explosion and the growing, uncontrolled
spill in the Gulf of Mexico made the bill's road to approval much more
difficult. The accident, which threatens wildlife and fishing grounds
along the Gulf Coast, will likely force many wavering lawmakers to
reconsider whether they support expanded drilling.
"I think that's dead on arrival," U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat
from Florida, told CNN on Friday.
A similar analysis can be found on Andy Revkin's Dot Earth blog, anchored to a quote from sociologist Robert Brulle:
When you look at well blowouts, they can become the biggest spills of
all time. They can run on for months. The biggest one in the Gulf was
the Ixtoc I in
1979. This spill ran from June 1979 to March 1980 (9 months) and
released 140 million gallons of oil. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez
(only!) released 10.8 million gallons.
This could have an enormous political impact. That type of spill
size will eventually reach recreational areas, and places where the
press can easily document the adverse impacts of the spill. Unlike
global climate change, oil spills make for good graphic, and visual
coverage, the causal sequence is self evident, and denial is impossible.
Think of week after week of oil spill coverage on the nightly news.
"Denial is impossible." Interesting choice of words.
For more on the slick, here's an interview with the great science writer Lee Hotz, now with the WSJ:
Kit Stolz 