The after effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil explosion are both reassuring and troubling. Even as early as June 2010, President Obama was shown eating shell food from the Gulf area(1). NOLA news reported as late as December 2010, that “The government says Gulf seafood is safe to eat. However, Ed Cake, president of Gulf Environmental Associates in Ocean Springs, Miss., told the International Conference on Shellfish Restoration(2), ‘We have a lot of concern about what is going on down there.’ "(1)
He and others have voiced their concerns over the FDA approved testing procedures, which they say do not adequately reflect the eating habits of either Gulf Coast residents or a wider variety of seafood consuming adults. Other watch dogs like “chemist Wilma Subra, president of Subra Co., a New Iberia lab and environmental consulting firm…[state that] "The FDA protocol is absolutely 100 percent inadequate," said Peter Brabeck, an environmental monitor for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. "No question about it."(3)
To complicate matters further, the U.S. government is prepped to sue BP and eight other companies. Attorney General Eric Holder stated, "We intend to prove that these violations caused or contributed to this massive oil spill(4), and that the defendants are therefore responsible – under the Oil Pollution Act – for government removal costs, economic losses, and environmental damages."(5)
The article also notes that BP is the only company who has been paying for the cleanup thus far. Interestingly enough, BP and Shell are selling assets at record highs. BP, Shell, and ConocoPhillips led 95 sales in 2010 valued at $49.5 billion (6). It seems that even with more than a few rig disasters across the globe, the race is on to get what is left of peak oil. With easy areas being tapped dry, oil companies are having to risk large scale disaster scenarios to cover the gargantuan demand for the fossil fuels.
(1)Whitehouse.gov
(2)Scseagrant.org
(3)nola.com
(4)Justice.gov
(5)usatoday.com
(6)bloomberg.com
Louisiana Bucket Brigade
(1)Whitehouse.gov
(2)Scseagrant.org
(3)nola.com
(4)Justice.gov
(5)usatoday.com
(6)bloomberg.com
Louisiana Bucket Brigade
