Super depressing photos of Gulf oil spill disaster

This Boston Globe photo gallery with images of the Gulf oil spill devastation will make you cry. Man, look at #6, with those bottlenose dolphins swimming under water blanketed with droplets of crude. What the hell, world? Related, in the NYT: The federal government gave BP and dozens of other oil companies the OK to drill in the Gulf of Mexico "without first getting required permits from another US agency that assesses threats to endangered species -- and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf."

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: Science

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

bobhughes

“The federal government gave BP and dozens of other oil companies the OK to drill in the Gulf of Mexico “without first getting required permits from another US agency that assesses threats to endangered species — and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf.”

Ah yes, that would be the Minerals Management Service, a real bunch of cowboys. Probably the same guys from 2008 that gave lucrative royalties deals to Chevron and Shell after employees of those two oil companies plied them with junkets, cocaine, and sex. I wonder how many female “business liaisons” on big corporate payrolls are prostitutes? I wonder if it was in the job description?
Anonymous

This is the kind of thing that SHOULD motivate Alt. energy research. I mean there are THOSE that are anti-global warming science, but you can’t be anti-”not screwing up the freaking Gulf”.
(disastrous spill) :: There it is.
(America LOVES energy / plastics / driving) :: This is why they’re out there drilling.
(Get America off of oil / Fuel Cell / solar-reusable energy) this is how we can prevent these accidents from happening.
With “Global Warming”, we the masses actually rely a lot on what people tell us is happening. That is putting “faith” in that other people are without ulterior motives. I feel this is why there are those who are ANTI Global Warming.
But this, man this is a freaking mess, an ecological disaster, sh!t, an economic catastrophe for the area. People don’t have to believe what someone else is telling them to get motivated to get off of oil, just look at the freaking pictures.
DJBudSonic

Change that “p” to an “o” in your link – you must be as pissed as I am Xeni!

What can we do to put an end to this Earth rape once and for all? What if this flow cannot be stopped? Is there any consideration for the damage that might be happening by changing the hydraulic dynamic of the planet by pulling all this oil and natural gas out of the crust? Why do we let ‘em do it, people of Earth? Why?
- Anonymous
  
  What can we do? Well, you’ll have to start with killing off humanity, because most people don’t give a shit. At least they won’t until they personally suffer from something. Then, Oh! the tragedy and injustice!
  
  Don’t forget that you too, are part of this. Every product you use in your daily life is connected to petroleum and its by-products. Why? Because it’s cheaper than finding a real solution and you keep buying stuff. The very keyboard you are typing your comment on is one such product.
  
  True genius is worthless in a world of laziness and greed.
Teller

I think there’s something like 3500 rigs drilling in the Gulf that have withstood hurricanes and severe ocean action. As I understand it, this deepwater rig had a pretty good plan to stop spills. The casing around the pipe would be cut in half by one embedded unit and bent by another – a temporary shut-off until a permanent fix. But due to the working depth of 5000 ft, the specs changed, calling for a thicker casing. The cut-off unit could not cut through it. Just an effing disaster all the way around.
Anonymous

I can’t stand the finger pointing over this national disaster, but I wonder what legal property rights the United States has, since this fiasco happen in the ocean on not on land. We should have boundaries extended into the ocean, but I think this catastrophe happened in international waters.
Anonymous

The thing is, I have had to listen to industry types tell me that they shouldn’t have to follow the rules because they are “not real world” for far too long.

The second I saw the video that bp was withholding, I was able to determine that the flow was more that 150 gpm. This is rapidly becoming the same scale as that pemex rig back in the day (I saw a tarberg that I could have parked my superbug on from that one- all the way up the Texas coast.)

If corporations are individuals with constitutional rights (as the supreme court has ruled), doesn’t that give them responsibilities too? Let them play the blame game all they want- they all had some contributory part in this, and all had a duty to prevent this but failed.

This wasn’t an unpredictable “act of god”. This was a very real risk once the parties involved went beyond the bounds of the safety rules that exist for this very reason.(did they really go past permitted depth, fail to properly maintain the BOP, use inadequate safety protocols and pull the mud out of a well that they did not have control over- just to save less money than that well would have made in a month?!!)

I don’t care what it costs the companies involved, they need to mitigate this problem even if it takes their entire profit stream away for the time it takes to do so.

This should not be tax deductible.

(expletive deleted)

Or we could just send them to the corporate equivalent of Angola…
- Ugly Canuck
  
  I trust you are referring to Angola Prison in Louisiana, and not the oil-rich African nation.
Devoted Mom

My 9 year old son developed a severe, disabiling disorder this year. His body has an extreme reaction to allergins and it has affected his cardiovascular system. I’m staying at a friends beach house in Florida to escape the pollen right now, and I’m looking for a place to live on the coast. My son and I are both HORRIFIED at the mess this has created. I fear it will be very hard for me to find a place to live with him given what has happened. I must be very near the water, but the water will be so polluted. Even if this well is capped, there are many, many more that could do the same. And to think that people still support off shore drilling despite this terrible event. We cannot keep doing this to our planet. I’m also amazed that outside of the coastal states, people don’t really care about this or understand the magnitude. So much of the oil is being discovered under the sea (one plume is 10 miles long and a mile wide.) It is hidden there, where it will do just as much damage for decades as the oil on the surface. I’ll return home to VA with my son and wait to buy a house because I don’t know what areas will be habitable when this is all done. Those beaches that remain will become incredibly expensive, I fear. How awful, for my son and me, but more so for the life affected up and down the coastal states. The world must watch and say, “This is what democracy and capitalism brings–we want no part of it.”
Anonymous

Bhopal

Chernobyl

Exxon Valdez

Deepwater Horizon

Nobody did nothing for nobody. Corp got away scot-free.

BUT, those were mere blips on a tsunamai of organic

chemicals, GMO agricultures and biopharmaceuticals

that our species has brought into the biosphere.

Good job, men!
Ugly Canuck

Oh, one other thing:corporations are and always have been primarily vehicles to limit liability.
This is apparently why they MUST have freedom of speech (though I’m not clear how the Supreme Court got from part A to Part B…).
Anonymous

I think #30 is even worse than #6. That poor bird is probably dead now.
sing it, baby

We may be moving to Mars sooner than we thought.
DJBudSonic

I know I am part of the problem: to all the anon’s that feel the need to “put me in my place” for wondering “why?”-

First, the keyboard I am using was purchased used from a recycling warehouse, cleaned and put back into service. Is yours? If there was a non-polymer keyboard available I would use it. And I don’t mean some kind of BS $300 bamboo “designer” keyboard. I mean a practical substitute that is mass produced and affordable. I am a vegetarian of 25 years, as is my entire (small) family. I bought an existing house, I didn’t build a new one. We have a car but don’t drive much. I work at home, so I don’t commute. I have a garden, bee keep, and recycle. For many years I have reclaimed food and other goods from discarded sources. There is not a new stick of furniture in this house. The only new clothes I ever buy are socks and underwear. I have had one new pair of shoes in the last 3 years. And yet this alone has not been enough to make any but the smallest change to the world.

Second, responses typical of yours always say humans have to go. You first. As far as I am concerned, Anon-types should be the first to go, at least I am out here trying to do something, and not lurking with my snarky comments.

Third, Xeni, sorry for the typo comment I thought maybe that might get edited, I was trying to help. I want you and everyone at BB to know how much I appreciate the work that you do in bringing all this info to the web everyday. BB is a fine example of someone putting their name on something good. Now, I don’t go for all of it, I restrain myself from commenting negatively on articles that promote, for example, design of products that seem unnecessary or overly trendy. But I respect the fact that someone else is interested in these things and for the most part leave ‘em alone.

Forth, I know many have considered that the time for our consumer culture is rapidly drawing to a close. As a formally-educated industrial designer I hate to say it, but it’s true. #17 – you feel the same way – I too want no part of capitalism. Wander through a “dollar store’ and try not to feel sick over all the crap made from oil-derived polymers. What other species on this planet leaves such a large, visible, and non- recyclable footprint? It is time for a change. Who is going to initiate this change?

Fifth, I could go on and on, but won’t. I am going to go outside, on this beautiful sunny day, and experience what is left of our non-polluted world as best I can. Yes I know that almost everything I touch and see and hear is in some part a product of our terrible modern ways. And it makes me sadder than you could imagine. I have very little direct responsibility for the disaster in the gulf. But I recognize that it is OUR problem, in as much as I am human. Therefore it is UP TO ME to exercise my human right AND human responsibility to do all I can to change the way we live on this planet. Radical stuff? Maybe 30 years ago. For years I too was fed the American dream, not recognizing that it was a consumer training tool. It’s time to get up and do something, people. To everyone that reads this I ask:

What are YOU doing to make the world a better place? What are YOU doing to inspire others to do the same?
civvie

OIL SPILL PROTECTS FISH!
If this spill continues to stop shrimp trawlers from operating, it will most likely save a lot more creatures than it harms. Shrimp has the highest ‘Bycatch’ of all species fished. For every pound caught 5 pounds of unwanted creatures are thrown back, dead. Including bass, herring, crab, mullet, flounder and tuna. Shrimp trawling is 50% beyond what the UN Food and Agriculture Organization figures is the long-term sustainable limit.
Of course no spill and no fishing is better. But the lesser of the two environmental evils could well be the oil spill.
2hirondelles

Yup, #30 and 31 are the ones that got me. We don’t deserve custody of this planet. We’re just f**king it over, but good.

And we don’t learn: they’ve begun work on a similar set-up just off the coast of NFLD, where seas are rough more often than good.
ADavies

Off shore drilling – the only winning move is not to play.
DJBudSonic

Change that “p” to an “o” in your link – you must be as pissed as I am Xeni!

What can we do to put an end to this Earth rape once and for all? What if this flow cannot be stopped? Is there any consideration for the damage that might be happening by changing the hydraulic dynamic of the planet by pulling all this oil and natural gas out of the crust? Why do we let ‘em do it, people of Earth? Why?
jtegnell

But but but but the CEO of BP assures us that the Gulf is huge, and relatively speaking this is like the oil slick around a motorboat!

He wouldn’t lie, would he? After all, corporations are responsible entities! Rand Paul assures me this is so!
flytch

everyone who drives in this country is to blame… and if you drive an SUV your more to blame then most… it’s a shame that vehicles get less milage then a model T… btw a model T got 27mpg….
querent

a staggering number of conscious creatures are going to die horrible, horrible deaths.

i wept in two ways. in sadness and empathy, and with fierceness to see us fighting it. they found a good use for a blackhawk.

donating to the center for biological diversity right now. this was my fucking homeland.
- querent
  
  Oh yeah, they’re suing Ken Salazar for ignoring marine mammal legal protections when approving drilling in the gulf.
  
  http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/marine-mammals-05-14-2010.html
  
  they get my beer money this weekend for sure.
Anonymous

My mind can only compare this to natural disasters just from the scale of the devastation, but the horror that this was completely preventable by better engineering, and oversight, tears me up almost as much as the loss of all the critters caught in this ruin.
Anonymous

16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.