US oil disaster looms

If you have seen the news recently, you will undoubtedly be aware of the environmental disaster looming on the east coast of the USA. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on the 20th of April leaving eleven workers still missing. The Coast Guard has stated that new estimates on the quantity of oil leaking are now approaching 5000 barrels per day.

The coast guard attempted a controlled burn of a vast quantity of oil that was floating on the surface of the sea on Wednesday but barely touched the surface. Other vessels are trying to contain some of the spill using booms and absorbents so it can be collected. Attempts to stop the leak are still taking place with robotic submersibles trying to cap the leak using a domed device, but early estimates state that it may take weeks before it is contained.

In the meanwhile the US president Barak Obama has stated that he would give

"every single available resource"

to try to contain the effects of the disaster. With oil now washing up on the Louisiana coastline, it could be years until the scale and the environmental cost of the disaster could be analysed.