Everyone in the US will be affected by this, either directly or indirectly. Taxes will prop up recovery efforts once BP slithers their way out of this. As well, 10s of thousands (or more) of people in the fishing, tourism, supporting industries, etc. will get gov't assistance in one form or another.
I read that BP is saying it could take 90 days to stop the leak. The blowout has basically allowed a huge freeflowing stream of oil to pour into the ocean. Current technology i.e. BOPs (blowout preventors), etc. are supposed to practically eliminate this from happening. The problem here is that this drilling in the Gulf Coast is in extremely deep water, and the available technology was not designed to prevent blowouts at these depths. No company has ever had to deal with a blowout of this size, at this depth. BP shit the bed, and drilled anyway, assuming that this kind of disaster wouldn't happen. Not only should BP be held responsible, but also the gov't agency(s) that gave them the green light to drill without having sufficient emergency response procedures in place.
The place if fuct; heads should roll. Obama really has a chance to shine here. He should really go after big oil to make them more accountable for environment irresponsibility. So much for sustainable development, eh.
