Gulf Oil Spill Will Severely Hurt the USA

Horizon Oil Spill

British Petroleum is making progress with the Horizon Gulf oil spill:

BP Capturing 1,000 Barrels a Day From Gulf Oil Leak (Update1)

May 17, 2010 By Jim Polson and Jordan BurkeMay 17 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc said it is capturing 1,000 barrels of oil a day from a mile-long pipeline connected to its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, about a fifth of the estimated flow rate…

The well is leaking at an estimated rate of 5,000 barrels day, according to the official estimate by BP, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The estimate was challenged May 14 by U.S. Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, citing analysis by independent researchers that it may be more than 10 times higher. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-17/bp-capturing-1-000-barrels-a-day-from-gulf-oil-leak-update1-.html

However, there is environmental and economic damage:

Deep sea oil plumes, dispersants endanger reefs

By JASON DEAREN and MATT SEDENSKY (AP) – 51 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS — The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has already spewed plumes over ecologically sensitive reefs…

When the dispersed oil is broken into smaller globules, he said they are more easily eaten by smaller reef organisms and can kill them or cause tumors or something else harmful…

If oil reaches the Keys, it could threaten one of the country’s greatest underwater natural resources as well as its tourism industry…

“They’re not going to come if our beaches are tarred and our mangroves have died and it’s a polluted dump,” said Millard McCleary, program director of the Key West-based Reef Relief. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkizwl1juq5nw6XDJ9UTfq9bY0dwD9FOK1280

And while I saw BP’s top official before Congress stating repeatedly that BP will pay “all legitimate claims”, this does not mean that the spill will not contribute to significant long-term problems.

The Obama administration was always a bit skittish about more offshore oil drilling, and if they allow any additional amounts in the future, it will probably be on an exceptionally limited scale. This spill simply gives drilling critics too much ammunition to object. Historically, the political leadership in Washington, D.C. has tended to favor minimizing what is perceived to be the short-term negatives instead of maximizing long-term positives (and this is NOT limited to the current Obama administration).

The USA imports tremendous amounts of oil. If it produced it internally, the deficits could be began to be addressed and many Americans could end up with better paying jobs.

Now, the odds of more offshore oil drilling opening up is getting more and more stacked against the drilling. Although I consider myself to be an environmentalist, I have long recognized the hypocrisy of those who drive vehicles fueled by/with oil who opposed drilling off the coast here in California. Many seem to feel that it if okay to drill off the coast of other lands, as long as it is not theirs.

Since the spill, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has apparently changed his mind about allowing more drilling. He had seemed to favor it as a way to reduce the budget problems in California, now he is opposing additional offshore drilling. This will cost Californians many jobs and worsen the State’s finances.

This does not mean that I do not believe that the oil firms involved in the Gulf should not have been prepared for this. They should have and should be held accountable any problems they caused or should have been able to reasonably foresee. And though BP has agreed to pay, one thing it will not possibly have to pay for is the total impact future reductions in oil drilling will impact the US economy and contribute to an increasingly growing federal government deficit.

Furthermore, the Bible warns of a time when one third of sea life will be destroyed, and although most of that will be later, it is certainly possible that pockets of destruction will occur prior to the more massive one prophesied in Revelation 8:9 (which is well after the start of the Great Tribulation). Money may help a lot of fishermen now, but the time will come when food is much more valuable.

Food shortages are prophesied as part of the “beginning of sorrows” (which starts before the Great Tribulation) and massive American debt is likely to be a factor in the start of the Great Tribulation (Habakkuk 2:1-8).

Thus, even though progress may be being made, the ramifications of this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico seems almost guaranteed to result in higher American debt. And the USA will ultimately not survive that (Habakkuk 2:6-8).

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Prophecies of Barack Obama? Eight reasons why Barack Obama is apocalyptic and eight reasons why Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. This article includes many biblical and non-biblical prophecies, from around the world, that seem to discuss Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as at least one Shiite prophecy suggests? This is the longest and most complete article on this page on Barack Obama prophecies. Read it and decide for yourself if President Obama seems to be fulfilling various prophecies.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States Some claim that Barack Obama is the prophesied “son of Kenya”, based up an early 20th century writing.
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2010, 2011, or 2012? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord?