The Gulf Oil spill is now of epic proportions.  If you want to blame it on anyone besides BP, blame it on the Republican dislike of energy regulations, especially of the last administration.  Dick Cheney and the Bush administration had a hand in incredible disaster.  “. . . . yet another classic example of Bush/Cheney Era deregulation wreaking havoc on the planet.”    Via Daily Kos:

Mike Papantonio, an environmental lawyer on the Ed Show just now: An ‘acoustic switch’ would have prevented this catastrophe – it’s a failsafe that shuts the flow of oil off at the source – they cost only about half a million dollars each, and are required in off-shore drilling platforms in most of the world…except for the United States. This was one of the new deregulations devised by Dick Cheney during his secret meetings with the oil industry at the beginning of Bush’s first term.

Here is the link to the clip from the Ed Show: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36879861#36879861

This reinforces the post below about the lack of backup safety measures on oil rigs. This lack of an acoustic switch was not an accidental oversight; it was left off oil rigs operating in and near the U.S. quite deliberately.

How bad is this oil spill?  The oil is now washing up on shore and the slick itself has tripled in size, as seen from space.  BP is already being accused of downplaying the severity of the disaster.  Watch 10 minutes of CNN today and you will see worry and anger on the faces of people in the Gulf Coast region, including the worry and anger on the face of Republican Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana.   (pictured on the right).  Jindal said this isn’t just a threat to the environment of the region, but a “threat to our way of life.”   That’s a little more serious than people like Sarah Palin can comprehend.

More on the growing oil spill, including recent photos, can be found here.

Climate Progress is calling this “Oilpocalypse”, and I don’t disagree with that title at all.

It will be the biggest energy and environmental news story for the foreseeable future.  Eleven people are already dead and if yesterday’s Wall Street Journal story, “Experts: Oil May Be Leaking at Rate of 25,000 Barrels a Day in Gulf” (subs. req’d, excerpted below) is accurate, then the scope of the environmental disaster is far beyond anything we’ve imagined.

I don’t think anyone alive today has witnessed fossil fuel-caused destruction like this before, unless you count how the burning of it is also destroying our climate and lessening the ability of all conscious life on earth — not just us — to survive in the future.

We really do need to move Beyond Petroleum, starting now.  As BP’s shares continue to dive on the stock markets, it’s time for the U.S. to seriously invest in renewable energy for the future.  Enough of this fossil fuel use.  We are smarter than [...]