Let the Finger Pointing Begin!

The effort to stop the gushing oil well 5,000 feet below sea level in the Gulf of Mexico has moved into a critical next stage with the arrival of a four-story containment dome designed to capture the oil at the site. The 100-ton concrete and steel dome is being guided by cameras as robots lower it directly above the well currently spewing oil into the U.S. Gulf. The dome will then be connected to a vessel at the surface, which, if successful, officials hope will capture as much as 85% of the oil coming from the site by Sunday. As oil has started to make landfall in some areas of the Gulf Coast, the political reaction to the spill has moved into its next phase as well. The ultimate legacy of the incident may depend partially on the success or failure of the ongoing containment effort, but it is already clear that Deepwater Horizon has become a watershed incident likely to stall already-sputtering efforts to pass comprehensive energy legislation. Download here