Environmental experts say the damage caused by the oil spill unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may equal or even eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off the southern coast of Alaska, the worst oil spill in U.S. history and one of the worst environmental disasters in decades.
And will the taxpayer end up with the bill to clean up the mess?
Today the Coast Guard set fire to parts of an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico to prevent the Deepwater Horizon rig's spill from drifting closer to Louisiana. A Slate Explainer points out that the oil recovered from the leaking oil well (at a rate of 42,000 gallons per day 5,000 barrels per day) off of the Louisiana coast can still be used. But one question that has yet to be answered* (and in fairness, to be asked): does BP still owe royalties to taxpayers for any of their natural resources that have been spilled and/or burned? Does it matter that BP opposed stricter safety rules for offshore drilling? Or that Food and Water Watch has raised concerns about the potential for a similar disaster, based on the allegations of "a whistleblower and former company contractor" that another platform "has been operating without a large percentage of the engineer-approved documents needed for it to operate safely"?
The Associated Press reports that industry officials have said that replacing the Deepwater Horizon will cost $700 million, and that BP is paying $6 million a day to contain the spill, and there are predictions that the cost of the disaster could easily exceed $1 billion. We don't yet know what the costs will be taxpayers. The Interior Department and Homeland Security Department announced a full investigation into the Deepwater Horizon rig incident yesterday.
Let's take a little trip down memory lane with Michele Bachmann:
A Minnesota congresswoman says the United States is the only country that has made it illegal to access its own energy.
House Republicans are continuing their revolt against Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her decision to adjourn the House without a vote on offshore oil drilling to lower gas prices. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich plans to join House Republicans in the Capitol this morning to join the protest.
Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) says it has not escaped Democrats what the cost of gasoline and loss of jobs are doing to the country.
"This is their agenda," Bachmann states bluntly. "I know it is hard to believe, it's hard to fathom -- but this is 'mission accomplished' for them," she asserts. "They want Americans to take transit and move to the inner cities. They want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, [and] take light rail to their government jobs. That's their vision for America."
Bachmann predicts gasoline will rise above $5 a gallon if Barack Obama is elected president.
And then there were these photo ops:
Bachmann headed to the Gulf
Posted at 6:42 AM on July 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck (0 Comments)
No, not the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Mexico. GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann's office says she'll visit an offshore oil rig:
Monday, July 28th, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is continuing her tour of American energy sources that if tapped could bring down the price of gas. Travelling by helicopter from New Orleans, Bachmann will tour a deep sea oil rig to learn firsthand how quickly and safely additional energy could be tapped if Congress lifted the ban on American offshore exploration. Most of America's offshore reserves - 88 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - are currently off-limits, and Bachmann has backed legislation to lift that ban. The tour will be guided by U.S. Mineral and Management Services.
Bachmann, who is calling for increased drilling, is making the trip just a week after she visited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. She has been advocate for drilling in that area as well.
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