A sheen of oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is nearing the white sand beaches of north-west Florida. The slick is only 9 miles from the coast of Florida, and it is expected to reach there by as early as Friday. Each attempt by BP to contain the spill is either too time consuming or a complete failure. Now they are attempting to contain the spill from the well by cutting off the fractured pipe and sealing it with a cap. There are constant efforts to protect the beaches and wildlife, but none of them appear to be very effective at the moment. Florida Governor Charlie Crist is most concerned with getting rid of the oil close to home, then worrying about the big picture. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has highly criticized the Obama Administration and BP for not responding to this disaster in a more timely fashion. At the same time, he told got the White House to approve the construction of 5 sand barriers., which BP is expected to pay for. This whole ordeal has been financially devastating to BP. They have spent $990m on clean-up costs so far. Despite all of BP's efforts, there is growing frustration that all their efforts have come to naught, and things can, and probably will, get worse for them in the near future. President Obama has said that the leak "may prove to be a result of human error, or of corporations taking dangerous shortcuts to compromise safety." A "top kill" procedure, which had been considered the best hope for plugging the leak, failed over the weekend. Workers were not able to pump enough mud to stop the oil. All that remains now is the long term plan of drilling the 2 relief wells, but that is not expected to be done until sometime in August.
Submitted by: Nate Heberlein
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