SPILL UPDATE: VOLUME 17

Day 63. The same ol' same ol'. Oil still leaking and everyone arguing about whether deep water drilling should resume. To Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, who today filed briefs to have the drilling moratorium lifted, I say the following:

Governor Jindal, I respect your work as governor of Louisiana. But, please keep in mind that the Gulf of Mexico belongs to everyone in the United States - not just your constituents. Since you are worried about the potential job loss a moratorium might cause, I would like to suggest a non-Republican resolution to the situation: Start investing in alternative energy technologies.

It's funny how your party always talks about litigation as a bad thing - yet you seem to resort to it whenever possible. From health care, to oil spills, to presidential elections - Republicans just love a good lawsuit. But, when someone gets injured in an accident, the GOP wants to limit liability. Stop the litigation and start being proactive.

For all of your talk about the private sector being the solution to all that ails America, it seems that even you know that big business will never come to the rescue. It's time for some REAL proactive governance from the leader of the state of Louisiana.

1. Blow up the well to save the Gulf. [The New York Times]
2. Mississippi Governor Barbour: Moratorium worse than spill. [Washington Monthly]
3. Regulators failed to address risks in oil rig fail-safe device (Text, Video, Multimedia). [The New York Times]
4. Monitoring the manatee for oil ills. [The New York Times]
5. Oil firms challenge deepwater drilling ban (Text & Slide Show). [Reuters]
6. Jindal files brief to stop drilling moratorium. [MSNBC]

7. BP was told of oil safety fault 'weeks before blast' (Text & Video). [BBC News]
8. BP's Tony Hayward at yacht race in England as oil spills in Gulf. [Politics Daily]
9. Yacht's all, folks. [Politico]
10. Former shell exec rips BP. [Politico]
11. Senator Richard Shelby (Republican-Alabama): BP CEO Hayward should step down. [Politico]
12. Oil spill fallout: Oyster industry takes hit as Gulf company shuts doors. [Politics Daily]


13. Spilled Oil. [The New Yorker]
14. Gulf oil spill: Five numbers that could sink BP CEO Hayward. [Christian Science Monitor]
15. As oil flows, can President Obama reverse field? [Politico]
16. Evangelical environmental network: Gulf oil spill raises moral issues. [The Huffington Post]
17. BP supervisor was fired for expressing safety concerns. [The Huffington Post]
18. Gulf oil full of methane, adding new concerns. [The Huffington Post]

19. Gulf oil spill: Rig owner's avoidance of U.S. jurisdiction angers house panel. [The Huffington Post]
20. Senator Grassley (Republican - Iowa) to BP on oil spill estimates: I want the truth! [Talking Points Memo]
21. The 7 dumbest things BP has said about the spill - so far. [Talking Points Memo]
22. Say what? Republicans slam White House over BP Gulf spill fund. [Talking Points Memo]
23. 'Shame on you': BP exec pilloried by lawmakers. [Talking Points Memo]
24. Obama's good day. [Newsweek]