Santa's got a nice present for ya

But you say it's way too early for Xmas. Can't even do Xmas in July. Have no fear Santa Hayward is here. But you'll need a few more calenders to keep track.

Everyone should be prepared for worst-case scenario', says the head of oil consultancy group. Hummm where have I heard that before? They're saying that this mess could last to Christmas of this year. There's 194 days till old Saint Nick makes his showing. Assuming they can capture one half of this disaster that would be 87 million gallons on top of the 100 million gallons already there. We know that they haven't collected or dealt with more than a few million gallons. You could factor in evaporation if it wasn't for the fact that their dumping dispersants on it which makes that unlikely. And yet even now their calculations are based on best case scenario. Then there's the problem of hurricane season. If they have to disconnect the collection tanker ships then the flow rate goes back to over a million gallons per day. And the weathermen are predicting a bad hurricane season.

Then there's the issue of insurance. I hear Lloyds of London isn't too happy about this spill and are encouraging a move to renewable non polluting energy sources. Acknowledging that the initial costs are higher but they would be cheaper in the long term,the company admitted that current fuel sources (fossil fuels) will cost more as the result of this spill.

We as a nation could do a great deal more to move towards self sufficiency and it really wouldn't cost all that much. It's been said so many times I'm surprised it's not etched in everybody's brains. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use. Take shorter showers. Keep your car tuned and the tires inflated. Calk windows and doors. And turn the thermostat down in winter and up in summer. We may not be able to do much for the people of the Gulf but with a little effort we can slow the need for all this deep water drilling.