BP Solution Is Only Partial - Leak Continues

BP has actually gotten a funnel-like device placed on the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and they are now siphoning thousands of gallons of oil into a surface ship. If people just listened to BP and their publicists, they might think that BP had actually plugged the leak and the worst was over. That is just not true.

The truth is that the procedure BP did actually increased the flow of oil by 20% to 30%, and they are only able to contain and siphon off about half of the oil leaking out now. That means at least 60% to 65% of the original leak is still flowing into the Gulf and joining the already disastrous amount of oil already there. And there is little hope of staunching this flow until August, when it is hoped that two relief wells being drilled can take the pressure off the leak.

Meanwhile, over a hundred miles of beaches are already being affected by the oil -- from Louisiana to Florida. Even if the oil flow had been stopped (and it certainly has not been), Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said it will take years to get the oil out of marshlands and other habitats.

President Obama agrees saying, "It may take some time, and it's going to take a whole lot of effort. There is going to be damage done to the Gulf Coast, and there is going to be economic damages that we've got to make sure BP is responsible for and compensates people for."

I wish the president luck in getting BP (and Transocean and Halliburton) to pay for all the damage caused by the oil leak they are responsible for, but personally, I'll believe it when I see it. And I wouldn't count too much on help from Congress either, where many congressmen are literally swimming in oil money. BP spent $16 million on lobbying Congress in 2009, and spent another $3.5 million in the first three months of 2010 (and that's only one oil company).

And things may not be much better with the court system. Think Progress has learned that at least 58% of the active federal judges in the Gulf Coast region have financial ties to the oil industry -- 37 out of 64 federal judges in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida. Do we really think these judges will rule against their own financial interests? I wouldn't bet on it.

Right now there's only seems to be one bright spot in this whole mess. It looks like the American people are finally waking up to the environmental and financial dangers of off-shore drilling. For the first time, a majority of Americans believe increased off-shore drilling is too risky. In a new Washington Post/CBS News poll on the matter, 51% of the people now oppose new off-shore drilling and only 40% favor it. It's too bad that it took a mega-disaster to make people see the truth.

But for now there is only one sure thing -- the leak continues as does the damage to the Gulf and Gulf Coast states.