But for now, the spill's main political effect has been to pollute the debate about energy.
With the Deepwater Horizon oil spill now moving into its second month and no immediate end in sight, BP is ( see WSJ story today) attempting to throw Transocean under the bus as responsible for the disaster.
And now the mega-spill in the Gulf of Mexico is adding a jolting insult to decades of injury.
CNN: An SOS on World Oceans Day: Save our seas, save ourselves
He's also been known to take a painful spill, every now and then.
Right now, stopping this oil spill and containing its damage is necessarily the top priority not just of my administration but I think of the entire country.
Directly below Fanny and Constance lived somebody who took flash photographs from his or her balcony, the bright quiet blast of light below them every now and then like a spill of phosphorescence, fairy dust, at their feet.
Many countries have now followed America in encouraging guilty parties to spill the beans: the first member of a cartel to come forward now wins leniency, a concession taken advantage of in both the vitamin and auctioneering cases.
Think of BP, the oil company now wrestling with a disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general, went to New Orleans today and delivered some scary news to the companies embroiled in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill: There is now a criminal investigation.
The Indian Room (952 S Pacific Ave, 310-514-3511) is another classic watering hole, complete with a friendly bartender who seems to have no problem keeping pace with her customers even if it means she might spill a cocktail every now and then or miss a glass with the soda sprayer.
Despite the enormous advance in knowledge about the many threats to the ocean, the greatest problem facing us now with respect to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is ignorance, and with it, complacency.
CNN: An SOS on World Oceans Day: Save our seas, save ourselves
They will lead the National Commission on the BP oil spill in the Gulf, which is now the greatest environmental disaster of its kind in our history.
WHITEHOUSE: A Full and Vigorous Accounting of the BP Oil Spill
"I think our focus right now is, one, the area, the spill, and two, also to ultimately determine the cause of it and see the impact that that ultimately may or may not have, " he said, noting that Obama's announcement was the beginning, and not the end, of a longer process.
Yet BP claimed to have in place sufficient booms, stocks of dispersants and skimmers to deal with a spill far in excess of the volume it is now struggling to contain.
The spill's northeast drift means Florida's anglers now are hurting along with fishermen from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
And we turn now to NPR health correspondent Joanne Silberner to learn what this huge spill may mean for people who live in the region.
Now that BP has already taken the public relations hit for its big spill, it might decide that cutting the dividend makes most sense.
In addition the US economy is feeling the adverse affects of the Gulf oil spill and the debt crisis in Europe, which the Fed now cites as a potential economic contagion.
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While BP is on the receiving end of a deluge of bad press in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and with so much risk built into Europe right now, fellow U.S. supermajors whose valuations and yields have improved may be better plays right now.
We figured only Jobs would know, but now... there might just be someone else out there willing to spill the beans.
"As a result of LEDs it is now possible to place light exactly where it is needed and to greatly reduce spill light and energy wastage, " he said.
Many of the state's legendary fishing grounds have already reopened, but fears remain about the oil spill's effects both on species and on customers, who now fear that all Gulf fish are tainted.
"The only way to prevent a catastrophic oil spill from happening in this unique environment is to permanently ban all drilling now, " he said, according to Greenpeace.
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The Senate is now poised to act before the August recess, advancing legislation to respond to the BP oil spill and create new clean energy jobs.
WHITEHOUSE: President Obama on Bipartisan Leadership Meeting
Now, these health and safety measures are just part of our overall effort to deal with the spill.
WHITEHOUSE: A First-Hand Look at the Federal Response to the BP Oil Spill
Now, we just finished a meeting with Admiral Thad Allen, our National Incident Commander for this spill, as well as Coast Guard personnel who are leading the response to this crisis.
WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Speaks on NYC Incident and BP Oil Spill in Louisiana | The White House
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