The Gulf Coast Disaster
This is a Guest Post by Vinchenzo Desroches.
Underwater Geyser
As the live video of the gushing oil streams continuously to all of
those who have an internet connection, the blood in our body continues to boil. Let us first thank the people of Beyond Petroleum, or as they we know them as BP, for allowing us to get a visual picture of what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico about one mile below the surface. This in itself is pretty remarkable, not only does the company have a decent picture to show the world; they are actually showing the world the major problem that they face and are getting slammed for. Let us all be honest, it is not entirely their fault.
There are a few companies including Transocean and Halliburton which are United States based, that have their hands in this mess. Even the congressional investigations into the cause of the oil pipe blowout
reveled to us, the American public , that everyone is blaming each
other and congress has no idea who really is at fault. BP has stepped up
to take responsibility which is generous of them, but they were only
leasing the oil rig know as the Deepwater Horizon from Transocean. It
wasn't technically their property that caught fire and disappeared into
the gulf. However BP apparently was in charge of maintaining the
structure and making sure everything that needed to work properly did.
As we all know now it didn't work properly, and we have a substantial
environmental disaster on our hands.
This environmental disaster will surely have everyone thinking twice
about opening up off shore drilling in other states. The government will
need to assess the damage caused by this spill and decide if it worth
drilling for more oil, even if there is another offshore blowout. These
damages go far beyond the cost to clean up the oil that reaches the
shores of the coastal states that would be opening their offshore waters
to the drillers. The amount of income lost by the fishing industry will
be extensive, causing everyone in the country to see high prices for sea
food and shell fish in the supermarkets. Those who fish the waters will
most likely be put out of business, and thus effecting the local
economies that depend on a clean ocean for their survival.
This oil spill has affected the real estate market in the surrounding
Gulf States. Buyers are now not willing to buy without language in their
contracts giving them time to cancel the deal if oil washes on to the
beach within a few months. If real estate deals do not go through,
tates like Florida lose out on tax revenue that they need from the sale of property. Lost revenue will then hurt the local counties, because either the county will need to tax the people at a higher rate or make budget cuts in areas that will make the citizens think twice about living where they do because of the lack of services. If no one wants to buy property close to future offshore drilling sites, those who own the land will see their property values
fall, this will also have an impact on tax revenue.
No one knows when this leak will be stopped in the gulf. The video is
still showing more and more oil leaking out into the water. If the oil
starts to spread throughout the gulf and into the Atlantic Ocean it
might even have an impact on the U.S. Dollar. Looking at currency
exchange charts will let everyone know if our dollar will become weaker compared to other major currencies. Even though this is very unikely, a future oil spill that could be larger might have a negative impact on the country's currency. All we can do now is wait and hope that the engineers that are working around the clock come up with an idea to plug the leak. If this continues to go on for another month, this could become a life changing ecological disaster.
This is a Guest Post by Vinchenzo Desroches. If you would like to Guest Post for Baby Boomers US, check out our Guest Post for Us page.
© Baby Boomers US Blog If you are reading this anywhere other than our RSS Feed Please notify us at admin@babyboomersus.net
You may also want to join the Baby Boomers US Forum for conversations by Baby Boomers about topics important to Baby Boomers!
Share and Enjoy:
Every week I come across an article or two that I find very helpful to me as a Baby Boomer and think may be of some interest to you, the community, as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting on my blog. I will write back soon!