Tropical depression Alex is being viewed with some concern by both BP and the US Coast Guard as it moves into the southwestern gulf. Alex is likely to make BP’s clean up drive and oil collection efforts difficult in the Gulf of Mexico.
Meteorologists expect Alex to make landfall as a hurricane on Thursday between Brownsville, Texas and Tuxpan de Rodriguez Cano, Mexico.
This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow).
The thick oil from the spill washed ashore in Mississippi for the first time. The oil spill is already endangering wildlife, tourism and fisheries along the US Gulf Coast. The globs of brown oil and rainbow oil sheen on tourist beaches at Ocean Springs, Mississippi is now awaiting BP contractors to start the massive cleanup operation.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a proposal for a global pollution fund at the G20 summit in Toronto to deal with such contingencies. A special consolidated fund created from collection of dues from oil producing companies would pay for the insurance of such risks.
It is an idea under debate, but it will not help BP who needs to shell out the millions to clean up the current oil spill.