Worse Than Valdez?

What makes an oil spill really bad? the AP story asks, and answers: Most of the ingredients for it are now blending in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts tick off the essentials: A relentless flow of oil from under the sea; a type of crude that mixes easily with water; a resultant gooey mixture that is hard to burn and even harder to clean; water that's home to vulnerable spawning grounds for new life; and a coastline with difficult-to-scrub marshlands.

Gulf Coast experts have always talked about "the potential for a bad one," said Wes Tunnell, coastal ecology and oil spill expert at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. "And this is the bad one. This is just a biggie that finally happened."

And so Think Progress adds: The catastrophic gusher of oil unleashed by the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig last week is on track to quickly exceed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, an independent expert warns."

The story notes that the spill is already larger than 31 nations of the world. And the oil may continue gushing from these wells (apparently there are now two) into the sea for months. So far, no one knows how to stop it.

As the destructive effects begin to become obvious, the questions also begin: did the company involved use the correct safety mechanism to cap the well? Did the explosion happen because of a Halliburton operation? Did BP do enough to contain the oil? To the last question, the White House says no. (See this other Think Progress story on the reality behind BP's "Beyond Petroleum" green energy advertising campaign.)

But note this: the attempts to shift blame to the federal government have already begun--not just party politics, but in the service of the corporate giants who are actually responsible. Will the questions about them fade in the corporate media? (Though this Halliburton connection was made by the Wall Street Journal.)

The U.S. government is responding, including with troops. Several relevant cabinet secretaries are at command centers in the region, and President Obama may visit the area Sunday. Meanwhile, new offshore oil drilling is suspended.