The Gulf Project

I am a believer in sound scientific approaches to problems.  The biggest problem with the BP oil spill is that they never really expected a drill failure, so they have no tested way of dealing with it.  All of the fixes being tried in the gulf right now are experimental, and in a way are a good testing ground for new approaches, but at what a terrible cost. 

I don't always agree with Governor Perry on his policies, but I think the Gulf Project is a great idea.  Perry has enlisted scientists, engineers, policy experts, researchers, and other state officials from NASA, Rice, Texas Tech, U of H, A&M, and other agencies to research and develop safer oil drilling techniques and to come up with a more effective response strategy to future oil spills.  Oil is a big industry in Texas and Perry is right on target to protect the industry in this proactive approach.

Texas New Home for Refugee Pelicans

While everyone from Congress to BP to Obama to ordinary citizens are busy playing the blame game, the Coast Guard is actually doing something positive.  They just transported rescued, oil cleaned pelicans to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge for release back into the wild.  This was a joint effort by the Coast Guard, Texas Parks and Wildlife and US Fish and Wildlife Departments with money from BP. (Click on the links for volunteer opportunities.)  I'd like to see more stories like this in the news.  Passing the blame around is just talk, what we need to see is action.

Find other posts on this topic here and here.

Oil Spill Solutions?

Well BP is finally putting the 4 story cement cap on the oil leak in the Gulf. Apparently it will take a few days to cap the well. The well is 5,000 feet below the surface and they have to use robot subs to put it in place. Hopefully this will stop the oil from coming out of the well. Then there's all the oil on the surface and floating around beneath the surface that has to be cleaned up. An innovative way that us regular people can do to help is by getting a hair cut. Huh??? Well, there is this group in San Francisco that collects hair, stuffs it into tubes of nylon stockings that are then tied together to form a barrier around the slick and then the hair, which is highly absorbant, soaks up the oil. Over 390,000 salons have signed up to send hair to the project and some are giving a discount on a haircut. So if you've been dying to get that new doo now's the time.