An Epidemic of Amnesia Takes Over Congress!
I'm back at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and this time I'm there to stay. My op-ed column will be appearing once every other week on economics-related topics. Check out the first one, published today, by clicking here. Sources:
- 49 miles off the coast of Louisiana (National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling)
- 4.9 million barrels of oil (PBS)
- $6 billion of damage, $20 billion BP fund (Fox News)
- three bills to expand drilling immediately (Center for American Progress)
- better containment system...has not yet been tested in ocean conditions (AP)
- $300 billion disaster (MSNBC)
- less than 3/4 the size of BP (annual reports; you'll have to trust my math)
- cleanup cost four times as big (Reuters; 23.6/6 = 3.9)
- no disaster insurance (AP)
- already debating how much to raise taxes (MSNBC)
- All the #s for nuclear liability were sourced in a previous column in the Sun-Sentinel ten months ago. (It felt indelicate to say "I told you so.")
- most hospitals don't drill for radiological emergencies, 85% of states are unprepared (ProPublica)
- no chain of command (ProPublica)