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A rash of recent oil spills around the globe -- Bangladesh, Israel, Peru and New Zealand -- serve as reminders of the damage such spills can cause and of the important role responders can play in limiting such damage.

Spill responders have several tools at their disposal, including chemical dispersants. However, the legacy of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico includes a public backlash against dispersants that stands to exacerbate environmental damage from future spills.

Starting with Deepwater Horizon, dispersants seem to have become an environmental villain du jour, even creeping in to the popular vernacular. To control an oil spill that ultimately exceeded 40,000 square miles, responders released 1.8 million gallons of dispersant over 59 days -- an act that society has judged a bad idea.…  Seguir leyendo »

It is no accident that the government has seemed paralysed in responding to the Deepwater Horizon crisis, not knowing whether or not to defend BP in the face of politicians' and public opprobrium. The reason is that it is unable to understand that the root causes of the crisis are ideological.

To blame or not blame BP is really not the point. BP must take its share of responsibility along with other US private companies involved. But the deeper lessons of the oil spill concern the future of our energy supplies, of regulation, and the shape of our society and economy.…  Seguir leyendo »

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has already been described as the biggest environmental crisis in US history. The efforts to stop the leak, repair the damage to the ecosystem and compensate those whose livelihoods depend on clean waters will come at a tremendous cost to BP. We still don’t know what the final bill will be — or how BP and its reputation will manage.

Tough questions are rightly being asked of the oil industry, but the disaster raises wider issues than the culpability of a few companies. It poses a fundamental question about whether our dependency on oil and other fossil fuels is sustainable.…  Seguir leyendo »