Have you been keeping up with the details of this Gulf Oil Spill? Eleven people died, 210,000 gallons of oil are being spilled a day and it could take up to three months to plug the leak. Not three months to clean it up, three months to stop it from leaking. These NASA images give you an idea of the scale of what we\'re talking about and that\'s just the beginning. Obviously there are huge implications for the aquatic life but it goes beyond that to affect huge chunks of industry - fishing, tourism, etc.

The worst part of all this is that the oil rig was not equipped with the remote shut off capabilities that other oil producing companies require their offshore stations to have. Check this WSJ blurb:

The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department\'s Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn\'t needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything but what do you think the likelihood is that Oil Lobbyists did their best to sway politicians into deciding that the cost of installing such a switch just wasn\'t worth it?

Anyway, the whole thing is awful and I hope everyone keeps their eye on the progress of what\'s going on; it\'s sort of a BFD.