Ideas Submitted For Handling BP Oil Spill On The Rise

Ideas Submitted For Handling BP Oil Spill on The Rise.

USA Today (6/11, Winter) reports on the "many inventors, entrepreneurs and others who have descended on the Gulf, hoping to help bring an end to the nation's worst oil spill - and maybe make some money in the process." The article notes the ideas contributed by 85-year-old engineer Bill Horne, who proposes something "like a giant vacuum cleaner for the oil," and actor Kevin Costner, who "testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as to the potential effectiveness of a product he has invested $20 million in which he says could help with the cleanup by purifying water and separating it from oil." A BP official said "about 60% of the ideas have been proposed solutions for plugging the leak, while the rest are aimed at cleaning up oil." Suggestions have been on the rise, and some such as Clean Beach Technologies have been in talks with the company, while "other businesses have found BP less receptive."

        Endangered Species Act's Shortcomings Seen As Partly Responsible For Oil Spill. Brandon Keim writes in the Wired (6/10) "Wired Science" blog, "Of the many regulatory problems that helped make the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster possible, the Endangered Species Act's shortcomings have received little attention - but fixing its flaws and loopholes could help prevent future catastrophes." While investigations have cited "a culture of ethical failure" regarding the Mineral and Mining Services' oversight of drilling, inattention to the Endangered Species Act and its "evasion of National Environmental Policy Act," according to Keim "it probably wouldn't have mattered" because the Endangered Species Act does not require consideration of events seen as unlikely to occur. "In addition to considering catastrophes," and dealing with funding issues, "the Endangered Species Act also needs to restrict what's called segmented consultation, in which impacts are evaluated only in incremental blocks...rather than its expected lifetime."