Gulf Coast oil spill: Photos

May 23, 2010 7:00 p.m. EST


The Gulf Coast is struggling to prevent massive pollution after an offshore oil rig exploded 50 miles off Louisiana's coast on April 20. The U.S. government has declared the oil spill a national disaster. Efforts are under way to protect the area's fragile wetlands and vital fishing communities....

Caught in The Oil

Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island. As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident. (8 photos total)

The BP oil spill has taken us into some uncharted waters. We still don’t know how much oil is pouring into the ocean each day

Here’s the latest estimate.


Nor do we know the exact toll this disaster will take on the ecosystem of the Gulf. We only know that things are moving in a very discouraging direction.

Dr. Lisa Suatoni, , a marine expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, answers some basic questions: “Where is the oil? What is it harming? What unique habitats and biological diversity are at risk?”

You can keep abreast of these issues at the NRDC’s Disaster in the Gulf blog,

Gulf Thick with Life -- and Oil

Silence from the Brits . oh well


to sometthing different How Everyday Behaviors Can Produce Clean Energy

All Vibrations are good vibrations in the world of energy harvesting. Whether it's a road under heavy traffic or commuters pounding the sidewalk pavement, micromovements on any surface can be converted into clean energy by power-scavenging devices fitted with piezoelectric (PE) crystals. These pressure-sensitive materials -- normally made of ceramics -- give off a small charge when "squeezed, squashed, bent, or slapped," explains Markys Cain, a materials scientist at the British National Physical Laboratory. ("Piezo," by the way, is derived from the Greek for "press" or "squeeze.") So a PE layer slotted beneath a supermarket parking lot could, for example, use the movement of customers' cars to power checkout conveyor belts or pump that free electricity back into the grid. Here's how these sparky substances will be turning vibrations into volts...... read below ...

Would some members in UK thread please stop quoting so much, some members complaining, thanks !!

And now this !!

Oil Rig Worker: Blowout Preventer was Leaking

Deepwater Horizon Worker says He Reported Leak on Crucial Emergency Shutoff Valve, But Company Kept Pumping

CBS/AP) A Deepwater Horizon worker has told the BBC he warned BP and its partners weeks ahead of the catastrophic explosion aboard the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that a crucial piece of hardware on the sea floor was leaking.

Tyrone Benton, who operates underwater robots that do the actual work on the complex, giant machinery a mile underwater, says one of the robot's cameras spotted a leak on a control pod of the blowout preventer (BOP).

The BOP is essentially the emergency shutoff valve fixed permanently to a wellhead on the seafloor. The Deepwater Horizon's BOP is as tall as a house and the control pods, of which this rig had at least two, are the brains of the machinery - a combination of mechanics and electronics.....