(20-05-10) One month has passed since the worst disaster registered in oceans at all times began. The pollution in the Gulf of Mexico is going to mean the disappearance of many species, and, what is worst, there is no way to stop the leak.

    As days go by U.S. authorities are unable to solve the most serious environmental disaster they have suffered in History. In the 21st century there is no technology or effective means to fight the consequences of an activity that President Obama has just boost: “the proliferation of offshore oil platforms as a solution for the future..

    That “policy of proliferation of underwater drilling platforms to exploit the earth's natural resources” has lost credibility overnight, and it has been proved its dangerousness and the inability to safely control the extraction of oil thousands of meters deep.

    Which is clear is that one month alter the explosion of the rig Deepwater Horizon, operated by BP in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil slick it has caused and the chemical dispersants being used to combat it, are one of the worst environmental disasters in the USA. And the most pessimistic say this has only just begun.

    According to most pessimistic scientific data based on measures of images of the pipe, the leak could be 10,000 tones per day. Shortly after the leak began, Greenpeace started to work on the area and to evaluate its serious consequences and impacts, and recently, experts of the organization have checked the arrival of oil to Louisiana coasts, near the Mississippi River Delta.

    Nowadays, more than the arrival of oil to coasts, one of the main worries of scientists is the discovery of underwater slicks being hundreds of square kilometres wide, which could be causing consumption of oxygen. This would have disastrous consequences for species in the area. This effect could have been caused by indiscriminate use of chemical dispersants to sink the slick, making it less visible, but not less destructive.

UNABLE TO SOLVE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS

    This great catastrophe shows that the oil industry is unable to solve the serious environmental problems that their own business generates. For this reason, Greenpeace has asked the U.S. Congress to establish a ban on new offshore drilling to prevent such disasters from happening again.

    Furthermore, the ecologist organization has demanded Obama a law to reactivate a model of clean energy. Renewable energies, such as wind and sun, along with the energy efficiency, have enough potential to satisfy all current energy needs.

    "Oil industry only wants to make money, it is not even able to finish the leak they have caused, in a month" said Sara del Río, responsible for Pollution of Greenpeace. "There is only one way to ensure that such disasters do not happen again and it is changing the energy model”.

    Now, nobody knows which coasts the leak will reach. A thick layer of oil has reached the coasts of Louisiana and by the satellite images it seems that the slick has reached the Loop Current, which in a few days could move oil to the coast of Florida and even Cuba. Other hypotheses indicate that, by the Gulf current, oil could reach Europe.

    Greenpeace hopes that a solution to the leak is found as soon as possible to begin to know exactly the consequences and steps to take to reduce its impacts. As well, it is imperative that oil industry is completely responsible for impacts of the leak and that this episode of pollution works as a lever to the government to change their minds and promote an energy model that respects environment and human health.

NEW ATTEMPT TO BLOCK THE PIPES

    BP is preparing a new attempt to stop the oil leak in the sunken rig. It will take place between today and tomorrow. Meanwhile, more oil is arriving to the estuary of Mississippi River, 40 km of coast now, a disaster that could affect more than 600 species and lead to extinction 28 species. Other of the main fears is hurricanes, which can move earth to oil, affecting coastal wetlands deeply.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. Government has threatened BP with pulling it out the works to stop the leak because of its inability. BP has accepted to pay cleanup costs and 60 million euros in compensation (the maximum required by U.S. law).

    The real extent of the leak is still unknown, although the most negative independent estimates say this leak is 11 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez one occurred in 1989. It is also unknown the percentage of visible leak, because most of it could be, according to scientists, in underwater layers, hundreds of meters deep.

    To finish with ineffectiveness of the proceedings against the oil slick, the EPA has banned BP to continue using the chemical dispersant Corexit 9500 due to its toxicity. Meanwhile, the leak, despite to efforts to pump part of oil to the surface, it continues active, and every time there are more evidences that indicate that currents will lead the pollution to Florida and Cuba. To the coasts of southern Louisiana oil slicks keep arriving.

Text: Guadalupe Romero / Greenpeace